Catalyst 6: Nascita
by Unstable Firestarter
Summary: A new planet, a new hope, a new future, is where Sophronica has ended up. Far from home, and after escaping from a laboratory, she travels this new world, encountering obstacles and maybe a certain three from her past. Yazoo/OC.
1. Frozen and Alone

**A/N:** YAY! I'm so happy to start this Catalyst x3 Away from all that dark, dreary, depressing-ness of the last one. Time for more action and drama and less trauma =D Just a few notes: I chose the title for this Catalyst because it means birth in Italian, and it fits the theme of this one the best, I thought, without sounding plain and boring. Also, the term I use at one point to describe her, 'like a scared rabbit', was inspired by the way my boyfriend often refers to one of my FF rp characters that way. As for a disclaimer, we all know I don't own anything of Final Fantasy, cause if I did, I'd have Yazoo, Kadaj, and Reno locked up in my house x3

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**Chapter One – "Frozen and Alone"**

Images, flying by rapid pace, almost too fast to be deciphered; the destruction of a planet, two beings flying through space. A crash, a storm of dust, a crater. The images sped up, faster and faster, until they all jumbled together and made no sense, the being's closed eyes twitching, so close to awakening. A word, a name, was emerging from all of this, repeating itself through its mind, being called out by a female voice that lingered just beyond the edges of remembrance.

_Sephiroth…Sephiroth…!...SEPHIROTH!_

The closed eyes snapped open, letting in a flood of colors and lights. It blinked rapidly, eyes scanning back and forth. Where was it? What had happened? Everything was distorted, rippling, like water. _Water_? Its calm demeanor changed to panic, and it raised a hand, reaching forward, but hit a barrier. Glass, it was surrounded by glass, closing it in. It brought its other hand forward, fingers splaying against the cold surface as it tried to find a way out.

There was movement beyond the confines of the glass, in the world outside, and it watched as a creature approached. The creature…its form was familiar; it was…what was that word? Oh yes; man. The creature was a man, about middle aged, the being behind the glass surmised, with short, unruly hair and a white lab coat. The man smiled, starting to say something, but the being couldn't understand what he was saying, and tilted its head to the side. The sounds seemed familiar, but it couldn't quite figure them out. Eventually, the man seemed to understand this, and gave up to move away across the room.

It watched him, trying to figure out what he was doing, but could only make out some complicated string of words and numbers it didn't yet understand that were scrolling along a large computer screen in the bank of machines. It inclined its head to the other side, but quickly grew bored of watching the man in the white coat, and turned its attention to the space it was confined in. It was cylindrical in shape, with metal at the back, top, and bottom. It was filled to the brim with water, or something like it, and the being marveled at the fact that it could breathe-it was supposed to breathe air after all, not water, right?

Why was it in this container in the first place? How did it get here, and what did this man want with it? Really, _it_ just wanted out of this tank, it wanted to be able to stand instead of float, to not be closed in on all sides by water, but it didn't know how to communicate this to the man. Puzzled, it watched as the man walked out of the room, looking back to the spot where he'd once stood. He'd left up whatever he'd been reading on the screen, but it couldn't read whatever it was from this distance.

It pressed its hands against the cold glass again, pushing against the unyielding surface. It pushed harder, something stirring within it and telling it that it could do this. It drew back a hand, and then slammed it forward, palm connecting with the barrier and shattering the glass of its prison. The water rushed forward, spilling across the floor and taking the being with it. The being coughed up lung-full of water in its attempts to breathe, taking in shuddering deep breaths of air, almost choking on it before it adjusted to the difference.

Its long hair now clung to its back and shoulders, sticking to the sides of its face, but it was currently distracted with shivering on the cold floor. The being pushed itself up, rising on shaking legs and trying to keep its balance. After it was sure of itself, it walked over to the computer terminal, gazing down at the words on the screen. It blinked a few times, as if trying to recall something, and slowly, after a few moments, it began to _read_ the words before it. The information began to make sense, the language clicking into place like a puzzle piece within its mind, and the words became not unreadable, but familiar.

The being couldn't quite make out all of it just yet, but it understood the part that said it had crashed here some time ago, falling to the lands nestled within a meteor. They referred to it as an alien, and that the man in the white coat, along with others, had been studying it all this time, while it had slumbered in a seemingly eternal coma. They had been unable to determine where it had come from, or how long its journey had been. They weren't even sure what it _was_ in the first place, nor what it was capable of.

"What's going-she's broken free!" a voice suddenly exclaimed, causing the being to turn from the row of computers.

It inclined its head to the side-the creature that had spoken was the same man that it had seen before. He had called it a 'she'. Was that what it was, a she?

He held up his hands in a non-threatening gesture, taking a slow step towards the being. "Easy now; I'm not going to hurt you," he said calmly.

She watched him curiously, not speaking, as he side-stepped, stretching one hand out towards a red button that was mounted into the wall. She couldn't explain why, but she had an uneasy feeling about that button, that she didn't want him to touch it. Swiftly, she reached out, striking the white coated man in the face. He fell like a ton of bricks, and she blinked down at him for a moment. Crouching beside him, she pulled the coat from his still form, slipping her arms into the sleeves and wrapping the material around herself.

She made her way from the room, leaving a trail of wet footsteps down the hall. She still didn't have any clue as to where she was, or how long she'd been there, or how she'd ended up in such a place. There was no one in this hallway yet, no one to see her, speak to her, or try to stop her, as that first man had. Though it seemed that she assumed this too early, as a moment later, two men in white uniforms entered the hall, walking towards her slowly.

"Easy; let's not panic," one said when they saw her stop.

She said nothing, just inclined her head slightly, narrowing her eyes as she gazed at them.

"Don't be afraid; we're here to help," said the other in a soothing voice, as if he were talking to a frightened doe.

Her gaze flickered to the object he held in his hand though; it was small, cylindrical in shape, with a long metal point at the end; a needle. She didn't need to have a full understanding of the situation to know that at some point, that man wanted to stab that needle into her flesh. She also knew that she had no intention of letting him do so; she did not, under any circumstances, want whatever was in that syringe to be circulating through her body.

Without any warning, she was suddenly in motion, breaking into a run and dashing towards the men. They started to move as well, reaching to grab her, but she drove an elbow into the first one's face, breaking his nose and sending him reeling back against the wall. When the second man went to stick her with the needle, she grabbed his arm-one hand by his elbow, the other around his wrist, and bent his arm back, stabbing the needle into the side of his neck. He let out a strangled cry, his eyes widening, and she hit the plunger, injecting him with whatever had been inside the syringe.

With them taken care of, she started down the hall again, wrapping the coat around herself once more as she was still shivering. She heard voices from behind her, and flinched, looking back over her shoulder; the uniformed men had been discovered already, and more were running towards her as an alarm started to sound, making her wince as the sound pierced straight through her ears. She started running down the hall as well now, shoving her way through swinging doors. She had no idea where she was headed, she just knew that somehow she had to find a way out of here, to get away from all these men that wanted her confined again.

She turned down another hall, and then another, occasionally having to shove white-coated people out of her way. She was beginning to panic a little now, like a scared rabbit; this place was a maze, endless hallways and rooms all connecting with no sign of end in sight. The only good thing about so many turns was that the men in pursuit of her were tiring and dropping off, while she barely broke a sweat.

At last, what was that ahead? It could be an exit…but what it resembled more than anything was a set of very secure double steel doors. She slowed as she approached them, finally stopping and laying one hand against the cool metal. This had to be a way out, she could just feel it-why else would it be blocked like so, when all she'd passed before were flimsy doors, and those swinging kinds? She wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to open it, but something within her stirred again, telling her she had the strength to do so.

Trusting this feeling-this instinct, maybe it was-and kept her hand pressed against the door. A brief mental image of fire passed through her mind, but instead, frost swiftly spread across the surface of the metal. The frost quickly escalated to a full sheet of ice, freezing the door completely. Well…what good was a frozen door? Of course…it was metal…and frozen metal would break and/or shatter if struck hard enough. She took a step back, bracing herself, and then slammed both fists into the door. She heard a faint crack, felt the skin on her knuckles split, and the door started to bend. She leapt into the air, lashing out with double kicks that made the door bend more.

It took another set of punches before the door had reached its limit, the network of cracks running through it causing the frozen metal to shatter outwards noisily and messily. Bright; it was bright beyond, but she walked out without hesitation, raising a bleeding hand to shield her eyes until they'd adjusted. It was blinding, but it was beautiful because it was natural light, the light of a star-the sun. There was no one out here-not yet, but she had a feeling there soon would be, with the way the alarm was still going off inside.

There was a parking lot, the black pavement hot beneath her bare feet, but not hot enough to cause her severe discomfort as she moved forward. She paused beside a parked vehicle as she suddenly caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window, and turned towards it, seeing herself for the first time. She took in every detail, from what she could see of a tall, slender form with soft curves, to the long silver hair that framed her pale face, no doubt falling all the way down her face, though most of it was covered by the stolen lab coat she wore. There were ice blue streaks running through her hair, even through the long bangs that clung to her cheeks. Her lips were the same shade of blue, a frozen color, and blue veins were visible beneath her skin in places, giving her a fragile, cold look, as if she'd just been pulled from ice and snow.

The only thing about her, that truly showed the vibrant flame of life that burned within her frigid exterior, was her eyes. They were a vivid, almost unnatural shade of green, with just a touch of blue, and the pupils were vertical, like cat's eyes.

So…this was who she was, this was what she looked like. She tilted her head to the side slightly, finally taking her attention away from her reflection; more uniformed men would be coming after her soon, no doubt. She had to leave this place, and fast, because she certainly didn't want to be taken back into that place, to be confined and studied again. Gazing at the vehicle in front of her, she wondered if she'd be able to figure out how to operate it…


	2. Encounters

**A/N:** Just a side note; the character Jayde is actually based on a friend of mine, personality wise. Now, on to chapter two =)

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**Chapter Two – "Encounters"**

After reaching a city, she'd ditched the vehicle some distance away, knowing that it made her an easier target, and continued the rest of the way on foot. She passed many more creatures-men, women, and children-but none of them were wearing white coats or uniforms, to her relief. They gave her odd looks though, the men staring, but she remained unaffected, merely wrapping the coat tighter around herself and crossing her arms over her chest. The tall buildings made her feel so small, as if she were an ant walking through a world of giants.

She soon came to see that there weren't any other beings that looked as she did-no silver hair, no cat's eyes, no frigid appearance, and she came to the same conclusion that those men in that complex had; she must be…an alien. She continued to make her way down the streets, not having any destination as she didn't know where she was to begin with. There were so may people, all heading this way and that, and so many buildings, all sorts of different places. They were all so crowded though, so full of people with their odd glances they kept giving her. But…wait? What was that place, across the street? The doors were open, the lights were on, but there didn't seem to be many, if any, people inside.

Curious, she made her way across the street, completely oblivious to the truck that nearly hit her, the driver shouting curses at her as they continued on. She entered the building, her gaze drifting around to the empty tables and booths, to the pleasantly dim lighting overhead. There was a bar on the wall opposite the door, and a machine stood in the corner, spewing forth some classic rock song.

"Some one this ear-whoa."

She turned at the sound of the voice, stopping when she saw the young man standing behind the counter of the bar. He was about 26, handsome, with mid-length black hair and dark brown eyes. He blinked as he got a good look at her, his eyes widening slightly.

"What happened to your clothes, lady?" he asked.

She merely tilted her head to the side, studying him curiously.

"Are you alright?" he asked, frowning slightly.

Again, she didn't answer, inclining her head to the other side and starting to walk towards him slowly.

"Uh, do you speak? Do you understand what I'm saying, even?" he said, sounding somewhat nervous, and probably not used to nearly naked women appearing out of the blue.

"…I understand you…" she spoke at last, her voice sounding foreign even to herself as it was the first time she'd said anything since awakening.

"Oh, okay; good," he said, relieved.

"Where…am I?" she asked, her gaze drifting around again.

"You, my good lady, are in Heaven's Gate bar," he said graciously, spreading his arms.

She blinked, looking back to him, and he fidgeted slightly at her silence.

"What happened to your clothes?" he asked at last.

"This is all I have," she replied.

"Oh," he said, blushing a bit, "That's…unfortunate. You shouldn't be wandering around like that."

Again, she just looked at him, studying him a bit more.

"Do you, ah, have a name?" he said.

"I…" she paused, considering that question. _A name? Something to call herself?_ The only name she could recall…was the name she'd woken up with going through her mind; _Sephiroth_. And she knew that was not _her_ name. "I don't know."

"Amnesia?" he said with a slight nod, "That's a tough break. I'm Jayde, by the way," he added.

She shivered again slightly, her gaze shifting curiously to the rows of bottles lined up in shelves in front of the mirror behind him, attract by their reflective surfaces.

"Are you cold?" he asked, and she simply nodded. "I see you don't talk much…well, okay, that's not a problem; I don't mind. I'll tell ya what," he continued, turning and rummaging for something underneath the counter, "You take this, and buy yourself some clothes."

Straightening, he set a fairly small black drawstring bag on the counter, the contents within clanking together faintly, and she looked from the bag to him with a quizzical expression.

"Go ahead," he said, smiling a bit, "Business has been good recently, so I've got some money to spare."

She tilted her head slightly, "Why…would you do such a thing?" she asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.

He seemed a bit taken aback by her words, but then laughed and scratched at his head, "I'm just a nice guy," he said, "And besides; it's not safe for a pretty lady to walk around with, ah, such little on."

She reached out, taking the money. "…Thank you…" she said.

Holding on to the bag tightly, she turned and began to make her way back out of the bar.

"Good luck, lady," Jayde said softly, watching her go.

She wasn't exactly sure where she was supposed to get these clothes, but she guessed she'd know the right place when she saw it. This also was a good opportunity to see more of this city, to know her surroundings a bit better. She passed many shops as she walked, and many more people who continued the trend of giving her odd looks, but she saw no place that truly caught her attention. That is, until she was moving by this particular store. There was a display in the window that snared her interest; it was an outfit, dark blue, leather. A slight smile, no, more of a smirk, really, curved her lips-the first positive emotion she'd shown since awakening.

She entered the shop, a small bell chiming overhead as she pulled open the door, attracting the attention of the plump, older woman who was organizing some clothes behind the counter.

"Welcome-" she started, looking up, but stopped when she saw that the silver haired woman wore only a white coat, "Goodness, is that all you're wearing?"

The being nodded mutely as the woman started towards her.

"Well, we'll just have to get you some proper clothes then," she fussed.

"The one in the window…"

"Pardon?" the woman asked, blinking.

"I want the clothes in the window. The blue."

The woman's eyes shifted from the being to the outfit in question, "Are you sure?"

The nameless one nodded, not hesitating, "Yes…" she said, with another pleased smile.

A short time later, she left the shop, minus the white lab coat, and wearing her new outfit of choice. She liked the way it looked on her, the way the deep blue complimented all the ice blue tones in her hair and skin. The top, a corset, fit her snuggly, accentuating her form, along with the long pants that flared out from the knee down, nearly hiding the matching, thick soled boots. Covering her arms nearly to her shoulders were long finger gloves, and around her neck was a matching choker. Yes, she liked this outfit a lot.

She'd tied the bag that held what was left of the money Jayde had given her to one of the belt loops so that she didn't have to busy her hands with holding it anymore. Though she didn't know what else she would use the money for, currently.

The sun was beginning to set now, its bright evening rays cutting between the buildings and blinding her every now and then as she walked, but she was starting to get used to it. What she wasn't getting used to though, was this nagging feeling she'd had ever since leaving the shop, that she was being watched. Every time she looked around though, she saw nothing out of place, no one suspicious, and no men in white. She was grateful for the last bit, but she was not appreciating this feeling. It was unnerving her, making her feel like prey.

It was as she was nearing a crosswalk that it happened. During another surveying glance, she happened to look across the street, and saw a flash of silver. She stopped dead in her tracks, much to the displeasure of those walking behind her, but she paid them no attention, her full focus on where she'd seen the silver. There! Another glimpse; there was someone walking through the crowd, across the street-and they knew, _they knew_, she was there. They turned towards her for a moment, looking straight at her, and then began to move away through the crowd.

She broke into a run, shoving people out of her way as she followed after the mysterious stranger. Silver! Silver hair, just like hers! Her heart was in her throat; could that mean there _was_ someone here like her after all? She'd made it across the street now, struggling to see where they had gone. There; turning the bend on to another street, not running, but walking fast. Since she was running, she should be able to catch them no problem, right? Apparently, she was wrong, because in the few seconds it took her to round the same corner, they were already half way down the street, heading into an alley.

She continued to follow them, intent on catching up. She turned the corner into the alley-and crashed into some one, the force and suddenness of it nearly knocking her off her feet. Red hair, this person had unruly red hair; they were _not_ the one she'd been after. She looked to the alley beyond them; it was empty. How could this be? How could they have vanished so suddenly?

"Hey! Watch where you're going, yo," the redhead exclaimed, obviously not pleased with her running into him, but she ignored him.

Her attention was on scanning the alley, looking for any sign of the stranger she'd been chasing. However, she failed to look up, and if she had, she would have seen a flash of silver on the fire escape, ducking through an open window.

"Hey, did you hear me?"

Her gaze flickered to the redhead again. "Sorry," she muttered, just to shut him up, and began to make her way down the alley, though for what purpose, she didn't know.

She didn't know where she was going at all; she wanted to find the one she'd seen with the silver hair, but she had no idea where to start, she was just wandering aimlessly. Well, maybe not completely aimless; eventually, after the sun had set, she found herself standing back in front of Heaven's Gate. The music was louder now, and it was crowded with people, all talking and laughing and shouting. Despite not being fond of enclosed, crowded places, she entered anyway, weaving her way around people and tables until she reached the bar, taking a seat at one of the few unoccupied stools.

"And what can I get you-you! You're back," Jayde said, blinking in surprise, "And with more clothes on, that's good to see."

She nodded, and for a moment he feared she wasn't going to say anything again, "I have no place to go," she said, her voice barely audible over the music.

"What?" he said, his eyes widening slightly, "No place-as in, no place to stay?"

She nodded again, starting to say something, but he was distracted when a patron called for his attention.

"Hold that thought for one second," he said to her.

She sighed a bit, watching him hurry down the length of the bar to the man who'd called for him. Her attention shifted for a moment, and she let her gaze drift over the occupants of the place. Who knows, perhaps she'd get lucky and her silver-haired stranger would be in here. She didn't seem to be favored though, because all she saw were regular people.

"Alright, so you were saying that you have no place to stay?" Jayde said, almost seeming to pop up out of no where again, leaning a bit on the counter.

Turning back to him, she merely nodded yet again, and he fidgeted slightly.

"You really gotta stop doing that. Just nodding, I mean, it's kind of unnerving," he said, "And not very helpful to conversation."

She gazed at him, not nodding this time, but not saying anything either.

Oookay, well, THAT hadn't worked out as he'd expected. He cleared his throat, "You could, ah, stay here for a while."

"Here?" she repeated, tilting her head slightly.

"Yeah; there's a second bedroom upstairs that I never use. You could stay there, I wouldn't mind," Jayde said.

She blinked, considering this. "You'd do this for me?"

"Yeah," he said with a shrug, trying to sound casual, "It's no big deal."

She gazed at him for a moment, trying to figure out why he was being so nice to her; they were all but strangers after all. "Do you desire me?"

"What?" he said, his eyes widening, "No, no! It's not like that at all!" he said quickly, a faint blush spreading across his cheeks, "I just wouldn't want to see anything happen to some one, especially some one like you, and know that I could've done something. You know?"

She smirked slightly at his reaction, knowing that she was most likely right. But he also seemed like a trustworthy person, though she wasn't entirely sure. "Alright," she said.

"Alright? Okay," Jayde said, sounding relieved though his blush didn't fade yet, "You want to see the room?"

She nodded, "Yes."

Well; at least she hadn't just nodded this time. "Hey, Ali!" he called down to the petite blonde who stood near the other end of the bar, filling a mug for a patron, "Could you take over for me for a few minutes?"

"Sure thing, Jay," she replied.

"Come on," he said to the nameless one, starting for the stairs that were back behind the bar.

She stood, following after him without a word, and was grateful to find that the sounds from the bar began to fade out and become muffled the farther they went up the stairs.

"So, ah, is it alright if I call you Lady? I mean, just for now, until you remember your name," he said, just for the sake of making conversation, as they reached the upper level.

"That's fine; I don't care," she replied, following him now down the hall.

"Alright, cool," he said, stopping in front of a door and pushing it open, "Well, this is it. Sorry that it's not very much."

She stepped through the doorway, looking around the room-it was fairly bare; a bed, a night table with a lamp, a dresser with a mirror, another door that presumably led to a bathroom, and a single window across from the bed, offering some view of the city. "It's fine," she said, turning back to him. "I think I'll turn in now."

"Oh, okay," he said, seeming a bit disappointed almost, "Good night then."

She nodded in response, watching as he closed the door. After she listened to his footsteps retreating down the hall, she turned, making her way to the window to look outside. _Lady…._ She was repeating the word to herself, rolling it over in her mind and testing out the sound of it. Yes; she supposed that would do for now, until she remembered her real name, and who she was. _Lady_…a perfectly vague name for a being who held no memories.


	3. Hunted

**A/N:** Reviews are still welcome people =3 But as always, nu flames please.

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**Chapter Three – "Hunted"**

She was still sleeping when the door to the room opened, and she was awakened by Jayde's voice.

"Lady-" he started, but stopped when he saw her only half covered, his eyes widening. He quickly turned away, flushing, "There're two guys downstairs, looking for a woman who looks an awful lot like you."

_That_ woke her up, and she threw back the covers, reaching for her clothes. "You never saw me," she said, zipping up the back of her corset, "I was never here."

"What's going on?" he asked.

She shook her head, though he couldn't see, "No time," she said, pulling on her pants and fastening them.

He was quiet for a moment as she put on her boots. "Where will you go?" he asked, turning now that he was sure she was dressed.

"I don't know," she replied, grabbing her gloves and choker, but not wasting the time to put them on yet as they weren't necessary to get out of here.

She strode over to the window, opening it, but then hesitated for a second. "I'll be back later," she said, before climbing out onto the fire escape.

With that, she was gone, and he sighed a bit, turning and making his way downstairs. He could hear the two men talking to Ali even before he was there, and not for the first time, he was grateful for her.

"You're the owner of this bar?" the taller of the two men asked as soon as Jayde was in sight.

"That's right," he replied.

"We'd like to ask you a few questions," the other man said.

"Go ahead," Jayde said.

"Have you seen this woman recently?" the first inquired, holding up a picture that bore a striking resemblance to the mystery woman who'd just fled from upstairs.

"Nope, can't say that I have," Jayde said after a moment's consideration.

"Are you sure?"

"Trust me," Jayde said, "I'd definitely remember if I saw some one like _her_. Why are you looking for her, anyway?"

The two men exchanged glances. "She escaped from a hospital, and we'd like to get her back as soon as possible," the second said.

"Is she dangerous?" Jayde asked, raising his eyebrows and feigning concern.

"We're not sure. But she should be approached with caution, to be safe."

"Well, alright. I'll let you know if I see her around," Jayde said, nodding a bit.

"Please do," the first man said, setting a business card on the bar counter, "Here's a number where you can reach us."

"Sure thing," Jayde said, taking the card and watching them leave.

* * *

She paused on a rooftop some distance from Heaven's Gate, only now putting on her choker and gloves. She hadn't thought it would take long for those men to come looking for her, and hopefully they wouldn't come back to the bar again. She sighed a bit at the ache in her stomach; she was hungry. Would it be too dangerous though, to be seen down on the streets right now with those men looking for her?

She moved over to the edge of the rooftop, crouching there so that there was less of a chance of her being seen, and gazed down at the street below. To her surprise-and dismay-she saw that there was a café on the corner across from her. The sight of people with food made her even more aware of her hunger, and she seriously began to debate going down there to get something to eat.

That was when she saw it; a flash of silver leaving the café. She stiffened, her full attention on them as they began to walk down the street. Catching her off guard, the silver haired figure turned slightly as they walked, tilting their head back, and she was certain they were looking directly at her. They raised a hand, as if waving to her, and she stood, preparing to follow them. They seemed to vanish into a crowd of people, but then appeared again some blocks down the street. Looking away for a moment, she started swiftly across the rooftop, leaping over the gap to the next, and looked back down only to see that her target was now making their way up the fire escape of a building in front of and across from her.

She didn't know how they'd gotten there so fast, just that she had to follow them. She leaped onto the fire escape of her building, making her way down as fast as she could. Racing across the street, she dodged around people, trying not to have to shove anyone as they slowed her down. By the time she made it to the top of the other building though, the one she was chasing was gone. With a soft growl of frustration, she looked around the rooftop, unable to believe that she'd lost them.

Wait…what was that, over there on top of one of the air conditioning units? She made her way over to it cautiously, prodding at the white paper bag. When it didn't move, or give any signs of being suspicious, she unfolded the top of the bag, peering into it. It was…a sub sandwich. Like the kind one would expect to be sold at a café. A sandwich…for her? She looked around quickly, as if expecting it to be a trap, but there was still nothing and no one on the rooftop besides the usual, her, and the bag. Food…for her…how could they have known she was hungry?

She _was_ hungry though, and the sandwich _did_ look good…oh, what could it hurt? Taking the sandwich from the bag, she began to eat, grateful that she had something without having to risk being seen right now by those men. Of course, she had made a slight scene with running across the street and scaling buildings, but she didn't think that would attract too much attention. What she really should be considering, is who that silver-haired stranger was, and why they had left food for her.

Just as she was finishing, she heard soft footsteps behind her and froze. Turning her head slightly, she looked back over her shoulder; men…men in uniforms. They had managed to find her despite her efforts to not be seen, though somehow she knew the stranger she'd been chasing was not to blame; it was most likely her own fault they were here right now. She turned slowly, quickly counting how many men there were-five.

"Easy there, we're not here to hurt you," one of them said, holding up his hands to show that he was unarmed, "We'd just like you to come with us."

She was quiet for a moment, her gaze shifting to the others, and noted that from the way they were standing, they were most likely hiding weapons of some sort behind their backs. "You want to…take me back to that place," she said at last.

"For your own good, yes," the man replied, "Just for a few tests, to ensure your health, and than you can go where ever you like."

He was lying, and she knew it; there wouldn't be _just_ a few tests, and they wouldn't let her go. "Never," she said, shaking her head, "I'll never go back."

"It'd really be best if you cooperated," the man said, taking a step towards her.

She glanced to the other four who had been slowly circling around her while they were talking, and shook her head again, her answer final.

She let them make the first move, the two on her left springing towards her and swinging the stun rods they'd been concealing. She ducked, rolling out of the way, and came to her feet again in time to dodge attacks from the other two men. Leaning to the side, she shot a hard kick to the stomach of the closest guard, causing him to stumble. Another guard charged at her, and she grabbed his arm, stopping him from striking her with his weapon before throwing him over her shoulder.

Not bothering to see where he landed, she darted forward, driving her palm into the stomach of the third guard before landing a punch under his chin to send him reeling backwards off his feet. As she started to turn, she felt a rod smash into her shoulder, sending a shock of electricity through her, and grimaced; she hated that. Whirling about, she wrenched the metal rod from the guard's grasp, throwing it over the edge of the rooftop. That done, she leapt into a kick that caught him in the chest, knocking him flat, and turned as the first guard she'd attacked rushed at her. She ducked under his swing, ramming her shoulder into him, and slammed him against one of the air conditioning units.

While he was slightly disorientated, she spun to meet the attack of the fifth man, who'd picked up one of the fallen guard's weapons while she'd been fighting them. The blow caught her hard across the face, knocking her off balance and splitting her cheek. She raised a hand, wiping away the resulting blood, and looked down at her hand for a second, the blood startlingly red against her blue-ish skin tone. When he moved to hit her again, she caught the rod in one hand, yanking him to her, and smashed her forehead against his. The blow landed with a sickening crack, and he stumbled back with a yelp.

She punched him hard in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him to the ground. Catching a flash of movement from behind her, she spun into a kick that caught the last guard under the chin, snapping his head back and possibly breaking his neck. Slightly out of breath, she turned in a complete circle, making sure that all the guards were staying down; one or two stirred slightly, groaning, while a few others didn't move at all, but none of them were making any attempt to get up. She flexed her arm a bit, but the pain in her shoulder had already faded, and only the wound on her face stung.

It was time to get out of here now, she told herself, and began to make her way across the rooftop, though she didn't know where she would go for now.

* * *

Night had fallen when she at last climbed through the window of the upstairs bedroom in Heaven's Gate again, and this time she was sure she hadn't attracted any attention. Closing the window after herself, she turned, but stopped when she saw something sitting on the bed. She tilted her head to the side a bit, narrowing her eyes, but walked over to it anyway. Two long, thin shapes, wrapped up in white material.

Sitting beside them on the bed, she tugged on the edges of the fabric, unraveling it from the objects it was hiding. As the material fell away, she saw that it was…two katana-no, wait, _gunblade_ katana. Both swords appeared identical, in matching gray sheaths, but when she drew the long blades, she saw that a single word was etched into the surface of each, small, delicately curved letters; _Heaven_, and _Hell_.

_Heaven and Hell_…those names seemed familiar to her, almost sparking some long ago memory and her brow furrowed in contemplation. The almost-thought was gone though when the door behind her suddenly opened, causing her to flinch in surprise.

"I was hoping it was you," Jayde said.

She tilted her head back, looking at him questioningly.

"I could hear the floorboards creaking," he explained, closing the door half way behind him. "Hey, where'd you get those?" he asked when he caught sight of the gunblade katana.

"Here," she said, "You didn't…?"

"No," he said, shaking his head, "I've never seen them before."

She looked back to the blades, returning them to their sheaths as she considered where they could have come from. The one with the silver hair, like hers? They'd seemingly left her that sandwich after all, maybe they'd left her these too…somehow…though they'd have to have found out she was staying here.

"What happened to your face?" he asked suddenly, turning on the light.

The cut on her cheek had bruised, but she didn't say anything to explain it, just blinked at him.

He sighed at her lack of response. "I'll be right back," he said, slipping out of the room.

She sat in silence after he left, taking the material the blades had been wrapped in and tossing it on the night table. She looked up again when he returned carrying a small cloth and some antiseptic.

"Now, let me see," he said, sitting down beside her and tilting her head towards him.

She didn't say a word as he tended to the wound, just sitting there obediently, almost like a robot.

"I grew up in a rough neighborhood," he said quietly, "Saw a lot of wounds like these, got a lot of 'em myself, so I learned how to take care of them."

She blinked, merely listening.

"That's how I met Ali, actually. She's like a sister to me," he said as he finished tending her wound, "So, uh…how many guys were there?"

"Five," she answered simply.

"_Five_?" he repeated, raising his eyebrows, "All by yourself?"

She nodded. "I'd like to be alone now," she added, cutting off whatever he was going to say next.

"Oh, alright," Jayde said, standing, "I, ah, need to be getting back downstairs anyway; busy night."

She watched him go, closing the door after himself, and laid down on the bed, holding the gunblade katana close, and still wondering if they were from the silver-haired stranger.


	4. Blind

**A/N:**A great question =3 I've kept Yazoo from you all long enough; the next chapter shall feature all three of our favorite silver-haired guys, though this chapter offers a small glimpse ;) And, that's also a great second question. I'd been wondering if anyone was going to ask, khehe. This will be the last fic in terms of continuing events, but if I get enough inspiration, I was thinking of writing a prequel to it all-when Sophy was in SOLDIER, her time then with Sephiroth and Reno, etc =3

* * *

**Chapter Four – "Blind"**

She woke up in the morning still curled around Heaven and Hell like they were priceless artifacts. Stretching, she blinked against the sunlight filtering in through the window, the select beams that managed to cut down between the buildings, and sat up, one hand over the blades' sheaths. Looking down at them, she stood, attaching them to her belt, so that they rested at the back of her hips; there, now she felt better. She couldn't say why, but keeping the katana close to her made her feel safe, comforted.

Upon coming downstairs, she saw that only the petite blonde was there-Ali, and Jayde wasn't anywhere in sight. The being referred to as Lady rounded the bar counter slowly, looking to Ali somewhat hesitantly.

"Good morning," the blonde said brightly, setting a plate of fried eggs and toast on the counter.

Lady looked at the food with raised eyebrows, not knowing the bar even had a place to cook, let alone that she would be receiving breakfast.

"Jayde asked me to fix ya something, after what happened yesterday," Ali explained, not seeming to be bothered in the least by Lady's lack of response.

She looked down as she took a seat at one of the stools, glancing up to Ali briefly, "I appreciate it," she murmured.

"You're quite welcome," the blonde replied, "Now you eat; you look like you haven't had a good meal in days."

Lady didn't say anything to that, just picked up the fork and focused on the food; who knew how long it'd really been since she'd eaten, before yesterday that is. Who knew how long she'd been asleep, during…well, however she'd gotten here in the first place. For all she knew, she hadn't eaten in months, years, maybe more. Though that didn't really matter at the moment, though she was curious about everything she didn't remember. She hoped the memories would return to her in time.

"So I heard ya have amnesia," Ali said as she bustled about washing cups and mugs from the previous evening.

Lady merely nodded as she ate, knowing that the other woman could see her reflection in the mirror that ran the length of the back wall.

"That's really a shame," the blonde said sympathetically, and Lady had the impression that she actually cared, "Don't even remember your name or nothin'?"

She shook her head this time, biting into one of the pieces of toast.

"Well, I suppose that _is_why Jayde calls ya Lady," Ali said, finishing washing out a beer mug and setting it aside to dry, "Oh well, don't worry; I'm sure you'll remember in time," she added with a smile, her blue eyes bright.

Lady gave no response to this, taking a sip of the orange juice that sat beside her breakfast plate.

"He's taken quite a liking to you," Ali said, and Lady tilted her head to the side a bit, looking up, "He's always been a kind soul, but he usually doesn't take in strays. Oops!" Ali added, her eyes widening slightly, "I didn't mean it like that, not to offend, I-"

"It's alright; I understand," Lady interrupted lightly with a small smile.

"Oh, okay," the blonde said with a breath of relief. "But yeah, Jayde's-"

"-Right here. What have you women been saying behind my back?" he teased, causing Ali to flinch and Lady to turn her head slightly, listening to his footsteps as he approached.

"Oh, nothing," Ali said, catching Lady's gaze in the mirror and gave her a wink.

Smiling a bit again, the silver haired woman nodded slightly-a new record for her; two smiles in one day. In one morning, already. Maybe, just maybe, it seemed like she was starting to remember what it meant to be alive.

* * *

She decided to take her chances on walking down on the streets today, and that's where she was right now, making her way down a wide, crowded road that she hadn't yet had the pleasure of exploring. She felt much more secure with Heaven and Hell on her person, and she knew that if she encountered more guards, they couldn't possibly be much of a challenge for her. Not after how she'd taken care of that group yesterday; five of them, with only receiving two hits herself, and not even breaking a sweat.

The day was pleasant, the sun warm but not too warm, and the breeze nice and cool, stirring her silver and ice blue hair around her shoulders as she walked. She glanced in a store window as she passed it, though her attention quickly shifted to the crowd around her as she noted two men in uniforms walking behind her. Tensing slightly, she pretended not to have seen, and kept walking as she had before. Glancing in the next window she passed, she saw that the men were closing on her, and knew that she'd have to do something.

There were too many people around to fight; too many chances that some one not-involved would be injured, and there simply wasn't enough room with so many people. So she did the next best thing; she bolted. Her height and long legs meant that she could run quite fast, even with having to push people out of her way, but the men following her were fast as well. She heard them shout behind her, heard other people shout as they were presumably shoved aside, but didn't look back. Up ahead some distance, she could see more uniformed men running towards her, and looked for another way to go.

The first thing she was the fire escape just ahead, on the side of the building, and so that's what she went for. She leapt, easily reaching the ladder, and pulled herself up to the first landing. From there it was easy; she just headed up and up until she reached the rooftop, hearing the guards far behind her. As soon as she reached the roof, she started across it, intending to leap to the next building and make her escape, but the stairwell door banged open, men pouring forth from it like ants. Backing up a few steps, she cursed to herself for not having anticipated this; they had laid a trap for her, herded her where they'd wanted her to go, and now she was stuck. Men coming up the fire escape, men ringing the rooftop, cutting off all her hopes of escape. Or so they thought.

Appearing undaunted, she reached back and drew Heaven and Hell, immediately charging at whoever was closest to her, as she had done the previous day-only this time she was armed. They didn't seem to have been expecting her to attack so suddenly, and so reacted just a second too late, the katana slashing across their necks and dealing them fatal wounds. Even as those two fell, she whirled, shooting at more guards who hadn't previously been aware that her katana were also gunblades. A line of bullets cut into a number of the men, dropping them, but still more were rushing at her-they really didn't want to take any chances this time, did they?

She brought her blades around in fast, deadly arcs, cutting into whatever flesh she could reach, dealing mere wounds and fatal hits alike. She wasn't intimidated by their numbers; she'd toppled a steel door, shattered two inch glass with a single punch, and taken out those guards yesterday. No, it was _they_ who should be intimidated by _her_.

She spun again, a whirlwind of flashing blades and spattering blood, but still they persisted. One slipped up uncomfortably close behind her, and she started to turn, intending to take his head off with one blade, but suddenly he was spraying something into her eyes, something that stung and burned and made her vision blur. She uttered a soft sound at the unexpected pain, striking out blindly as she tried to blink away whatever it was that he'd put in her eyes. Everything was blurred, her eyes tearing as they tried to rid themselves of the irritant.

She continued to lash out though, perhaps even more dangerous now with impaired vision, and she knew that she was still hitting them, still cutting into their flesh, making them bleed and diminishing their numbers. But her sight was diminishing too, going from blurry to just seeing shapes, colors, light and dark. What had they done to her? It was making her panic, rapidly losing her sight; she relied a lot on being able to see them right now as she was still 'new' to fighting. She couldn't let them capture her, couldn't let them take her back there, but the more she struggled, the worse it got, and the more wild her swings became, until she could tell that they'd all backed away from her, out of her range.

She could no longer see shapes or colors anymore, it was all just shadows, and she growled, deep in her throat, the way a wounded animal might growl a warning to its opponents, that just because it was wounded didn't make it any less dangerous. She stumbled, changing tact, and opened fire, shooting with her gunblades. She heard the bullets hit flesh, heard voices cry out, and smirked to herself; she could still do that at least. However, it wasn't long before there were no more voices, just the sound of bullets bouncing off metal. She tilted her head to the side; she could hear them breathing, they were still there.

To her left! She saw a shadow move, and swung a katana, but she didn't hit anything. There, to her right-another shadow. She swung at that one, but again she hit nothing but air. It was about right now that she realized with a sickened feeling that she was losing, and might very well be caught. She couldn't see anything…at all. No shadows, just blackness. She was completely blind.

At that moment, she heard a whisper of footsteps, and suddenly the guards were screaming. Not being able to see what the cause was made her panic again, and she started backing up, away from the screams. Another step, and abruptly she hit air, having reached the edge of the rooftop. She flailed, not knowing what to do with her hands since she still held Heaven and Hell, but not having anything to grab on to even if her hands hadn't been full. She was going to fall, and most possibly die, she was going to-some one grabbed her, pulled her back onto the rooftop.

She struggled a bit, not being able to see who it was, of course, and so was especially displeased when her katana were pulled from her hands. She heard the blades whistling through the air, expected to be struck, but nothing came. Not taking any chances though, she lashed out with a sharp kick. The blow connected, hit something solid, and she heard a grunt. Whoever she'd hit though, instead of retaliating with an attack, wrapped strong hands around her upper arms, pinning them to her sides. She continued to struggle though, landing many sharp kicks.

"Are you just going to let her kick the shit out of you?" a voice mused-a young voice, she thought, though she couldn't really be sure.

"I don't want to hurt her," a second voice replied, older, stronger, and she assumed it was the voice of the one holding on to her.

"Such a baby," the first voice grumbled. "Sorry about this," they added, sounding sincerely apologetic.

Something struck her head, and almost immediately she felt her consciousness slipping through her fingers, everything fading away…


	5. K, Y, L

**A/N:** Yaaay, another chapter. Sorry about the long wait. First I stumbled upon a kind of writer's block-I knew what I wanted to write, but couldn't find the words, and then last week there was a death in the family. Hopefully my need to turn to writing to distract myself will mean more updates on a bunch of things.

* * *

**Chapter Five – "K, Y, L"**

She stirred slowly, groaning as she turned her head to the side. For a moment, she was wrapped in the blissful ignorance of just awaking, but then everything came rushing back to her; those guards, being blinded, those two who hadn't seemed to be with the guards, being knocked out. She tried to open her eyes, but immediately found that she couldn't and felt a slight bubble of fear rising within her. Sitting up quickly, she reached for her face, though ended up sliding off whatever she'd been laying on and landed with a thump. Of course; she'd been laying on a bed, and now she was sitting on the floor, disorientated and confused.

Upon touching her face, she discovered that there was a bandage wrapped around her head, covering her eyes and keeping them shut. Just as she was about to rip said bandage off, hands gently touched her, slender fingers wrapping around her wrists and pulling her hands away lightly, causing her to flinch back in surprise.

"Easy, it's alright," said a voice soothingly that she'd never heard before, and yet somehow seemed familiar.

"Who…what…what happened?" she managed to ask, her heart racing.

"We got there just in time, got you away from those guards," they-a he, from the low, smooth voice-replied, releasing her wrists.

"'We'?" she repeated, still confused and unsure, but willing to take this one step at a time to find out what she needed to know.

There was a slight pause, and she could have sworn he was smiling-though she couldn't see to confirm this suspicion. "My brothers and I," he said.

She was quiet for a moment, uncertain, but slowly gaining the feeling that he-that they-meant her no harm. "…My eyes…" she said softly, asking so much with those two words.

He sighed a bit, seeming to be picking his words carefully as he replied, "Your eyes…. I…am fairly certain that it's only a temporary blindness and that you should regain your sight over time, soon."

"…How soon…?"

"Days, weeks?" he said, and she thought she heard a bit of concern in his voice.

She felt a bit of panic rising again; she couldn't be blind for that long! What if those guards from the laboratory came after her again? It was obvious that she couldn't hold her own against them without her sense of sight.

It seemed that he sensed her fear, because he spoke again, "Don't worry about it; you're safe here. Nothing will trouble you while you regain your sight; I'll make sure of it myself."

Her desire to know who he was pushed up alongside of her fear, drowning out the other emotion for the moment, and she raised her hands, reaching out for him blindly-quite literally. After a second, her fingertips brushed his shoulders, and she focused all her attention into her sense of touch, hoping to maybe be able to paint a mental picture of what he looked like. She reached farther up, her fingers brushing through long, silken locks, wondering what color the long hair he seemed to possess was. She touched his face than, fingertips tracing along the lines and contours, and he stayed perfectly still, not uttering a single word to deter her from this. Slowly, she traced along his forehead, then nose, to his cheeks, his skin soft and smooth beneath her touch.

A jolt ran through her when her fingers brushed across his velvet lips, almost as if she'd been shocked, and she drew her hand back swiftly, a flash of memory fluttering through her mind. It was there and gone too swiftly though, and she was unable to decipher what it was. She tilted her head to the side slightly, trying to figure this out, but the more she thought on it, the further the memory fled from her grasp until she was forced to give up on it for now.

"What do you think?" he asked softly after another moment.

Snapping back to reality, she pieced together the images she'd managed to gather from her previous 'touch-studying', and considered this. "…You're handsome," she replied at last.

He laughed quietly, "I'm glad you think so."

Taking her hands in his, he stood slowly, pulling her up with him. "Come on; I want you to meet my brothers," he said.

"O…okay," she said, not really having much of a choice as he led her forward.

* * *

He looked back at her as he led her down the hall, making sure that he wasn't moving too fast for her, considering her lack of sight. As he did so though, he couldn't help but let his gaze drift across her features; her delicate, pale skin, blue in places and with slight veins showing through. The pale, ice blue of her lips, matching the blue streaked through her hair, and that outfit she wore, complimenting all of the tones. She looked so beautiful; frozen, vulnerable, and confused, but beautiful nonetheless.

He looked ahead again as they reached the living room, shaking his head a bit to free a stray lock of hair from his Mako eyes. His brothers were waiting here, the younger sprawled on the plain white couch, chewing on his thumb and attempting to look bored instead of anxious, while the older paced back and forth, not masking his worry at all. They both stopped what they were doing when the middle brother entered the room with…_her_.

He almost started to say her name, but caught himself at the last second. "These are my brothers," he said, even though she couldn't see them, didn't know where they were in the room.

The youngest rose from the couch, light on his feet, and moved towards her, "I'm Ka-"

"Kaden," the second eldest brother smoothly interrupted, and Kadaj looked at him sharply.

What was with this? He'd never mentioned anything about this before.

The oldest of the three just stood there and blinked at them, not sure what to say now that the self-proclaimed leader of the bunch had been pre-empted in introducing himself.

"This is Locke," the middle brother continued, ignoring the dark look from Kadaj.

"…Hi," Loz said shyly, and she turned her head slightly towards the sound of his voice.

"And I am Yael," he finished.

Kadaj shot him another dark look; Yazoo was going to have a lot to answer for with this. Why did they have to lie to her? What good did it do any of them?

"I'd like to…" she started, but she didn't have to finish because he understood what she meant.

"Of course," Yazoo said, motioning his youngest brother forward.

She did the same as she'd done with him earlier, her fingers tracing over Kadaj's face, painting a mental image of his visage. His heart raced at her soft touch, and was once again well aware that death and rebirth had not changed his feelings for her one bit. After she was through, basically knowing what he looked like, but never completely sure until the day she would really see him, she did the same to Loz.

"I'm…sorry I can't introduce myself. I don't know my name," she said quietly, the most she'd spoken at once since awakening.

"Is there something that people call you?" Kadaj asked.

She hesitated for a second. "Lady…they call me Lady."

* * *

They were arguing, their voices hushed because it was the middle of the night, and despite that she was asleep some rooms away, they wanted to keep it that way.

"What's with these names, brother?" Kadaj demanded, "Why the deception?"

"I simply want to see if she'll remember on her own, that's all," Yazoo said calmly.

"But I don't want to lie to her," Loz spoke up.

"I agree," Kadaj said, glancing to his oldest brother, "We should just tell her who we really are; she'll remember faster."

"If this doesn't work, we can do it your way, as always," Yazoo said.

Kadaj narrowed his eyes slightly, looking like he wanted to say something more, but he didn't. "Fine."


	6. On Fire

**A/N:** Thank you. Here we have…the next chapter =D Wrote it all today xD Had a sudden bout of inspiration. I thought the bit at the end would be nice and dramatic, and a nice cliffhanger way to end the chapter x3 So that you aaaaall have to wait to know what's going on.

* * *

**Chapter Six – "On Fire"**

Another swing, another miss.

She wished she could remove the bandages from her eyes, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. All she would be able to see were vague, murky shadows anyway, and besides-the whole point of this was to learn how to fight blind.

She gave a frustrated sigh, turning to face the footsteps she could hear crunching across the gravel. They were up on the rooftop of the building they lived in, and from the direction of the heat of the sun, she guessed that it was late in the afternoon.

"Try again. You have the spirit of a warrior, you should always know where your opponent is, even if you can't see them," she heard the youngest brother say.

She never called any of them by the names they'd given her-they just didn't feel right. Instead, she solely used their initials-_those_ felt right.

"If you'd shut up, K," she muttered under her breath.

She'd started to grow more vocal over the time she'd been spending with them, though still preferred to keep her sentences short and to the point.

"If you'd grasp fighting blind, I wouldn't have to keep repeating myself," he said, and she heard a smirk in her voice.

K-it had been him, that day they'd saved her from the security guards. He'd been the one who'd apologized for knocking her out. Despite that, and everything else, though, she felt a strange bond with him that she couldn't explain, almost as if they were family.

Nonetheless though, he got on her nerves a lot, and his comment made her take a hard swing towards her opponent. The blow missed, but she could feel the air move in the direction he did as he dodged, and she lashed out with a kick that caught him across the stomach. He grunted at the force of the hit, but she merely smirked slightly; the eldest brother could stand the abuse. He _was_ the one who had pulled her back from the edge and overpowered her that day after all.

"Good," Kadaj said, and she could tell that he was nodding, "Now, try to hit her."

There was a moment of silence, during which she envisioned the two exchanging glances.

"But I-" the eldest started.

"You're not going to _hurt_ her. Now, try to hit her," Kadaj interrupted, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I…alright," he relented.

She often marveled how the oldest brother-the largest, fastest, and strongest of the three, as she had learned over this time-was also the gentlest, and was always hesitant over the idea of hurting her. Even back on that very first day, when she'd been kicking and punching him, he'd worried about hurting her. During all their previous training sessions, he'd never laid a hand on her, no matter how much his younger brother pushed him to.

However, this time, this day, she could feel the motions of the air as his fist came towards her. She darted to the side, darting back the other way as he threw another punch. She circled around him, keeping her footing easily on the gravel, and dodged a kick. The second one caught her in the back though, sending her sprawling forward. She hit Kadaj, knocking them both to the ground as she landed on top of him.

"The key is to _not_ be hit," he said after he was through muttering curses.

"Maybe it was on purpose," she replied, not moving.

"On purpose?" he repeated, raising his eyebrows.

"Maybe," she replied cryptically. She couldn't see how close their faces were, but she could feel his breath on her cheek. "Spar?"

"Tired of sparring with Locke already?" he teased, but when she gave no reply, he added, "Fine."

"_With_ swords," she added, resting her hands beside his shoulders.

"No, no swords, not yet," he refused.

"Afraid to hurt me too?" she said.

"No," he scoffed, "Actually, I was concerned that your blind-ass would behead me."

She was silent, as she had been so often before, and rolled off of him, rising easily to her feet.

Turning away from him, she brushed herself off, and then said quietly, "Chicken."

If she'd had her vision, she would have seen Loz's face drain of color as the youngest brother got to his feet, shooting a long, dark look at Lady's back. However, she did not, so she could not see these events, but she could guess along the lines of what was happening. She heard the sound of a blade scraping along a sheath as it was drawn, and a small smile curved her ice blue lips.

"Let's have a little sword fight, shall we?" Kadaj said.

Turning back to him, she drew Heaven and Hell from their own sheaths, once more loving the weight of the blades in her hands, so perfect, as if she'd been born with them in her grasp. She didn't say anything, but she didn't have to-the slight incline of her head spoke all the words she needed to. Loz quickly backed up out of their way as his brother dashed towards the blind warrior. She pivoted to the side just before he reached her, moving one gunblade katana vertically at her side to block a slashing blow from his dual-bladed katana. She twisted their blades to the side, resulting in a brief screech of metal and spray of sparks that she could not see, and swiftly moved her other arm to block a kick he'd directed to her side.

Quickly moving to back up from him, she disengaged her blade from his, for the briefest of nanoseconds losing track of his actions. He shot a kick to her shin, but she moved that leg back, starting to swing a gunblade katana towards where she thought he was standing, and abruptly received a punch to her stomach. She shook off the blow though, not registering any pain from it, and rolled to the side to avoid his Souba as he swung it at her. As she did so though, something flickered through her thoughts, as if old nerves were trying to reconnect, to open locked mental pathways. The lightning quick images that exploded and faded behind her closed eyes disorientated her, caused her to stumble slightly.

Kadaj, however, failed to notice that anything was wrong, and proceeded to lash out with another kick that she barely managed to block. She stumbled again as more images flashed through her mind, all of them too jumbled and melded together to make sense of. They felt so vague, so old, as if they were something from a past life or a time and place a million years old.

It was now that Loz noticed something wasn't right, but he wasn't in time to stop the youngest brother from landing a kick to Lady's chest-so much for the sword fight aspect to it all. She reeled backward from the blow-definitely too much of a reaction. A hit like that shouldn't cause this, not for her. At once, Heaven and Hell slipped from her hands, landing with a clatter against the gravel. She leaned heavily to one side, as if she were fighting hurricane force winds, or she was under the impression that the world was in the process of turning upside-down, and her feet became tangled together. She fell, hitting the ground hard, and an agonized scream escaped her lips.

Kadaj froze where he was, his eyes wide, obviously under the impression that it was his fault she was screaming, that he must have done something that he hadn't been aware of. He swung his gaze to his brother, whose eyes were also wide with confusion, but at least he wasn't frozen. As Loz started to go to her side, her long legs curled up towards her chest, and her hands balled into fists, nails pressing against her temples. She started to scream again, but a ripping pain tore through her chest, like she'd been shot, and it immediately closed off her air, making her gasp and choke as her hands moved instead to press over her heart.

Loz knelt at her side, reaching out a hand towards her shoulder as Kadaj continued to stand there, frozen in panic because it was _her_, this incredible being, their big sister, who was screaming like that-a sound he'd never heard from her before. The pain subsided enough for her to suck in a desperate breath of air-just in time for pain to explode inside her skull. The scream that worked its way lose from her throat this time was nearly glass-shattering, and so agonized that they could almost feel her pain just from the sound.

Echoing the scream, a wave of energy burst from her form, sending them both flying back through the air-Loz to sprawl on the gravel after tumbling head over heels, and Kadaj to nearly be thrown over the edge of the building, knocking Souba from his grasp. The pain flared through her chest and head like fire, but it was ice that spread across the ground around her, thrusting up large, jagged spears into the air. It was like an earthquake-or a volcano-and she was the epicenter.

She curled up tighter, long hair pooling around her like molten silver on the sheet of ice, her nails pressing into the skin at her temples again hard enough to begin to draw blood. It was words she was screaming now, but they were all jumbled together, virtually unintelligible to those listening. To her it made sense though-death, guns, soldiers. Someone had died, someone had been shot-in the chest, of course, that explained her phantom pain-someone had died protecting a loved one. Someone-a woman-long silver hair-a warrior-was it…her?

They didn't dare move towards her again-they feared being impaled on a spear of ice or something equally as bad, but there was one who braved it all to reach her side. He had heard her screaming from below in their apartment, and had wasted no time in coming to see what was going on. Now, he knelt at her side, pulling her into his arms as he forced her hands away from her head to prevent her from causing further damage to herself. He whispered to her, his voice cutting through her ravaged thoughts and burning pain, and all at once she quieted, her screams fading on the air.

She whimpered softly a few times, not moving, her chest heaving as she sucked in deep breaths now that the pain was dying and she could breathe properly again. Around them, the icicles began to recede into the ground, the sheet of ice shrinking, and the throbbing in her temples dimmed as well.

Climbing to their feet, both brothers looked to Yazoo-the only one who hadn't been attacked upon approaching her, and their silence spoke more than a thousand words. Whatever had happened, whatever had caused this violent reaction from her, he had been able to soothe her in a second.


	7. Enkeli, the Inorganique Angel

**A/N:** Thank you for the review =3 Haha, I forgot all about Faye xD Hmm…no, I don't think she'll be making a return, but I AM introducing a new nemesis in this chapter =3

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**Chapter Seven – "Enkeli – The Inorganique Angel"**

The one known only as Lady lay in bed-or rather on it, fully dressed-gazing at only darkness, of course. Her eyes were still bandaged, but she could see more than just vague shadows and shapes now. It was best that they remained bandaged though-it was less confusing for her to have no vision at all, than to have the bit she did for now. Besides, she was getting used to going about and fighting blind.

It had been some days since her 'incident' on the rooftop, and she still didn't know what had triggered it. It hadn't happened since, and in a way, she was glad. She wasn't sure what those images had been-if they'd really been of her or not, but she hadn't enjoyed the pain, or knowing that she'd almost speared two of the brothers with her icy abilities that had gone haywire.

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, enjoying the silence and peace that settled over the apartment like a comforting blanket. Soon though, after a few minutes, the atmosphere became uncomfortable, and she sat up. She frowned slightly, tilting her head to the side. She knew the three brothers were still asleep, and so she moved silently as she left her room and walked down the hall, her hands falling on the handles of Heaven and Hell. She reached the spacious living room, turning her head from one side to the other as if she were looking around, but really she was making sure there were no sounds of intrusion.

All at once the glass on the long line of windows shattered inward, and she took a step back in surprise, her hands tightening on the gun handles of her katana. There were heavy boot steps as the soldiers who'd swung through the windows landed, and she heard guns cocking. She didn't utter a word, just freed Heaven and Hell swiftly from their sheaths, aimed towards the windows, and opened fire. There was no hesitation in her actions-after all, anyone who came through windows and carried a gun couldn't be stopping by for a cup of tea.

As soldiers cried out and fell, she heard the front door being broke down, and ground her teeth together as her heart began to race-they'd come for her again, however they'd managed to find her. She hoped the three brothers woke up before it was too late-but she doubted they were asleep anymore anyway, not since she'd opened fire. She couldn't see her opponents-the ones who hadn't been shot-as they rushed towards her, but she could hear and feel where they were. She ducked below an almost-hit, the soldiers all being equipped with stun rods and guns, and drove an elbow into his back. As he stumbled, she launched an upward kick that caught him in the neck, crushing his throat.

More soldiers, fighting all around her. She wasn't sure of any specific details after a few moments, but she kept moving, cutting down anyone who dared to get too close to her, to try and hit her. She did become aware of three who were familiar though-she could tell from the sound of their breathing, the sound of Kadaj's sword as it cut through the air, the sound of Yazoo's gun as he shot down their opponents.

"Nice of you to join us," she said, her voice casual and barely audible over the sounds of fighting, though in reality she was panicking-knowing without a doubt that she would not go back to that place, and she wouldn't allow any of these three to be taken either.

They'd all saved her life, helped her in so many ways, she wouldn't let them down, wouldn't let them be captured. She owed them at least that much-whoever they really were.

"Couldn't let you have all the fun," she heard the youngest brother reply, though he sounded annoyed that these soldiers had broken into their apartment.

"This is going to take so long to clean up," Loz muttered, drawing back a fist and hitting a soldier with his Dual Hound with enough force to send the man flying out through the broken windows.

"I'm sorry…" she said quietly, bowing her head slightly as she slashed up a soldier in a v-pattern with Heaven and Hell.

"Sorry for what?" Yazoo demanded, sounding angry that she was apologizing.

She didn't reply though, as was usual for her, and focused all her attention on the fighting going on around her. She was stepping on corpses now, the more fragile bones snapping under her boots as she fought, but the sounds meant nothing to her-affected her in no way. It was as if she had been born for war, born for destruction, like she'd first begun to think that day she first encountered security from the laboratory. Maybe she'd even suspected it before that-when she'd discovered her reign of ice. At any rate, this came naturally to her, as did the way she could take hits and just shake them off like they were nothing.

Quite abruptly and unexpectedly, there was an explosion, and the floor beneath her feet shook, knocking her off balance and almost sending her down. She strove to balance herself as she inhaled-and then promptly choked on-a thick cloud of dust. What the hell was going on now? She could hear the soldiers all talking at once, sounding surprised themselves, and then there was a hand on her arm, pulling her to the side. There was another explosion, much closer this time, and she could feel the heat of it on her skin as she was knocked off her feet. Never before was there a time that she felt more blind-she had no idea what was going on, no idea what was causing those explosions, and virtually no way of avoiding them.

"What's happening?" she asked as she was pulled to her feet, returning her gunblade katana to their sheaths so that she wouldn't lose them.

For a moment, there was no answer as they moved quickly down the hall, the three still fighting off soldiers as they pushed her ahead of them-protecting her, putting themselves between her and the danger.

"It's Enkeli," one of them said-either K or Y, she couldn't tell, they sounded so much alike sometimes, especially now with more explosions and gunfire and fighting going on around them.

"What's Enkeli?" She didn't understand-why were they running? Who or what was this Enkeli that they had to run?

There was another explosion, this one seeming to rip the roof away from over their heads-but that had to be impossible; there were more floors above them. Nonetheless, the force of it sent her falling into Kadaj, who stumbled and fell against Yazoo, who in turn fell from their combined weight, while only the eldest brother escaped this pile up. It seemed a whole chunk of the building was missing, burned and blasted away, leaving a gaping hole like a wound, the fire like blood. Smoke rose towards the heavens in thick pillars, a cloud of dust obscuring their surroundings. The remaining soldiers were no longer standing-all of them having been dispatched by whatever was causing the explosions.

They had to be desperate-the laboratory, those scientists-they had to be so desperate to get her back to go to these extremes. It was also obvious that they didn't care if she was returned dead or alive. As those involved in the three person pile-up scrambled to pick themselves up and prepare for whatever new fight awaited them, all of them choking on dust and shaking off rubble, Loz turned his gaze to the dust filled sky that was visible through the gaping hole. His eyes widened at the sight there, and yet instead of run, he had the urge to move forward, to put himself between his brothers and sister, and what was beyond.

All he could do was stand there though, and the being that hovered in the sky saw him there, picked out his shape amongst the carnage, and folded their arms over their chest, supported by slow, lazy flaps of the metal and flesh wings that protruded from their back. They looked at him, looked to the other three who were turning to face it as well now, and started to laugh. Lady couldn't see what was there, but she could hear the sound of the laughter-heard the insanity in it that sent a chill like ice water down her spine, and she knew it then-this was Enkeli.


	8. Fire and Ice

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews =3 I MAY bring Faye back in essence later on, but she probably won't have a long part. And yes x3 I had fun creating Enkeli, but for once I'm not attached to the character, like when I created Chimera. Probably because I have no reason to pity Enkeli xD

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**Chapter Eight – "Fire and Ice"**

"Well, well. So here is where our little blind mouse has been hiding," purred the voice of Enkeli, and Lady was surprised to hear that it was a woman.

Enkeli gave her wings another lazy flap, just enough to keep her tall, lithe form aloft in the air where she was. She possessed long, curly brown hair that fell in soft waves all the way past her waist, and fair, pale skin. Her eyes were completely aqua blue-another visible clue that she was not human. She wore an outfit of leather; a black corset that tied in the back and left most of her back exposed, blood red finger gloves that reached all the way to her shoulders, black shorts, and blood red thigh-high platform boots. Her wings were by far the most unnatural thing about her appearance-their frame was red metal, with black, leathery skin stretched between each 'finger', resembling bat's wings.

"_And_ bonus points for her three companions," she added with a wicked grin, raising her arms out to her sides, palms up.

Yazoo took Lady by the arm, starting to pull her further down the hall, away from the Inorganique Angel, but she wrenched free from his grasp, not seeing the fireballs that were forming in Enkeli's hands.

"No," the sightless warrior said firmly, resting her hands on the handles of Heaven and Hell, "I will not run."

"You don't understand," Kadaj snapped, his anger masking his fear, "You can't beat her blind, she'll kill you."

Lady shook her head, taking a step forward, "I refuse to run."

Feelings were welling up inside of her, but she didn't know where they were coming from. The desire to protect, to not let any harm come to these three. For a moment, she felt as though she cared more for them than she did for herself. This was just like those images-that woman who could have been herself, dying for a loved one. The sentiment was starting to make sense now-caring for another.

Enkeli laughed at their indecisiveness, flinging both fireballs towards them. Sensing their approach from the heat and the sound they made traveling through the air, Lady took another step forward, drawing her gunblade katana. Whirling them about, she used the blades to deflect the flaming orbs, knocking them back through the sky towards the one who had created them. Enkeli flapped swiftly a few times, rising out of the way, and gave her silver haired opponent a dark look.

"So that's how you want to play, is it?" the brunette said quietly, summoning more fireballs into existence.

She began to hurl them at Lady rapid speed, and the blind one did her best to block or avoid them, but they were coming too fast for her to deal with them all. One hit her side, singing the leather and her skin, and a flash of images raced through her mind. She inhaled sharply, trying to keep all of her attention focused on the flames, but another slipped through her defenses, hitting her in the leg. The wound brought another wave of jumbled sights to flash before her closed eyes, and she could feel the pain starting to build behind her temples again.

Gritting her teeth, she smacked another fireball away with a gunblade katana, calling over her shoulder, "Get back."

The three brothers exchanged glances, not wanting to retreat further and leave her defenseless if something happened to her, but each having a feeling that they should heed her words. After all, she rarely spoke much, and when she did, it was usually important.

The throbbing in her head was increasing, and she drew in ragged, deep breaths through her mouth. She reached back and sheathed Heaven and Hell just in time, as a split second later the pain exploded like a volcano erupting. She fought so hard not to scream as she fell to her knees, raising her fists to her temples. As if reacting to the danger, ice burst from the ground around her, sending up jagged icicles, and at once the three brothers backed up, out of the way. Forward, forward, she forced the ice to direct itself towards her enemy, unable to see the spears that formed in midair, but sensing that they were there.

The images repeating through her mind reached a sudden clarity as the icicles shot towards Enkeli; silver hair, there was one-no, two-of them. A house in the woods, soldiers, she'd died protecting a small male-a promise to someone, someone important. But who?-she couldn't tell. A name, someone was calling her name, it was…

Enkeli darted through the air, dodging icicles and throwing fireballs at some, but one still managed to pierce through her side, and then continue on to rip through her wing, rendering her flight unbalanced. She clamped a hand over her side with a hiss, fighting to stay in the air, though the liquid oozing from the wound didn't resemble blood. She started to form another fireball in her free hand, but there were many more icicles poised in the air, waiting to impale her, and she growled, dropping her hand back to her side.

"Don't worry, my little blind mouse; I'll come back for you, and when I do, I'll make you dance before you burn," Enkeli called down to Lady, flapping hard to rise higher into the sky.

As the Inorganique Angel left, the spears of ice fell to the ground, shattering upon impact, and Lady suddenly gasped in a deep breath of air, as if she hadn't been breathing before. She fell over onto her side, hands still pressed against the side of her head, and was only vaguely away of the presence of the three, as if everything around her were fading out. She could hear their voices, but couldn't understand what they were saying. She could feel someone touching her shoulder, but it felt so distant. She started to say something-it was important, she had to-but before she could, unconsciousness swept her up into its embrace.

* * *

When she awoke with a start, the first thing she thought of was what she had seen when Enkeli had attacked-those visions that the woman had triggered. Silver hair, silver haired strangers, just like the one she had seen here in this city some weeks previous, the one she'd been chasing. She flinched when someone touched her arm, though quickly calmed when she heard his voice.

"It's alright; you're safe. We all are." It was Y, she knew in an instant. He was the one who'd calmed her before, the one she felt most drawn to though could not yet explain why.

"Where…?" was all she had to say for him to know what was on her mind.

"It's a safe place," he assured her, his fingers stroking down her arm gently, "We got away after you scared Enkeli off."

"Who…?" again, she didn't need to finish her sentence for him to understand.

"She's from the laboratory outside of the city," he explained, "She's like their…head of security."

She nodded a bit, sitting up cautiously as she didn't know where they were, and couldn't see their surroundings. She wanted to ask _what_ Enkeli was, but another voice spoke before she could.

"Are you alright?" the voice was soft, concerned, and she easily recognized it as the eldest of the three.

She nodded again, not speaking. At least-she _thought_ she was okay, but she didn't really know for sure. For all she knew, these visions, these images she saw, could mean that she was losing her mind. Though…it felt simply like they were images from a past life…something long ago and far away.

"Lady…" this third voice, it was the youngest now, and she turned her head towards the sound.

"No…not Lady," she said, shaking her head a bit, "I remember now…my name…" she hesitated for a second, "…is Sophronica."


	9. Sight

**A/N:** Thank you x3 It was pretty much just a spur of the moment inspiration. Mmm, I particularly enjoyed writing this chapter x3

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**Chapter Nine – "Sight"**

She lay curled up on her side, her gloves, boots and blades on the floor beside the pile of blankets that was her bed for now. The three had seemed ecstatic that she'd remembered her name, but a little disappointed that she knew nothing else. For now, she was just glad to know this, even though she only knew her name and nothing else about herself-at least she _had_ a name. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, curling a fist under her chin as she tried to go to sleep. Everything was quiet, peaceful, but no one knew how long that would last. That is, before Enkeli found them again, so they had best enjoy what sleep they could get now.

She heard a door opening quietly, and then easing shut behind her, and she rolled over, sitting up. She could hear whisper quiet footsteps coming towards her, and for a moment, she felt a little afraid.

"Who…?" she started as someone knelt next to her.

"It's me," he said softly, and she knew at once who it was.

She started to ask what he was doing here, but fell silent when he ran a hand through her hair, his thumb brushing along her cheek. His touch was so soft, so…familiar, and a jolt ran through her when he stroked the side of her face with his knuckles. He leaned closer, nuzzling her cheek, and she imagined that he was gauging her reaction. She didn't move, gave no protest, and he kissed her, his lips soft and hesitant against hers. Her heart skipped a few beats, and when he drew back, she uttered a soft sound of protest. Obviously he heard this, as he kissed her again, this time with more confidence. She kissed him back, her arms encircling his shoulders, her fingers tangling in his long, silken hair.

She couldn't explain what she was feeling at this moment, or where these feelings came from, she just knew that they were there, and they were overwhelming. Her lips parted against his, allowing his velvet soft tongue to slide into her mouth, her own grazing over his. Her hands tightened in his hair, and she was slightly breathless when he pulled back, her cheeks turning a delicate pink.

"What is-?" she started to ask, but his actions interrupted her.

He placed a hand at the back of her head, supporting her as though she were fragile as he laid her down, kissing her again. She gasped in a breath as his mouth moved across her jaw, his hands lightly on her shoulders. The darkness she saw, closed eyes and bandages over that, seemed somehow infinitely less dark with his presence so close to her.

"Why…do I feel this way?" she managed to murmur as he kissed her neck, his lips soft against her skin.

"What way?" he asked huskily, capturing her ear lightly between his teeth.

She inhaled sharply, a fine tremor running through her body, "That I want you, need you even, and I…" she didn't finish.

The words wouldn't come, and she didn't have a chance to speak them anyway. His mouth moving across her neck stole her breath, his every action overwhelming her, as if she was supersensitive to him. Her skin tingled from his touch, her thoughts chasing themselves in circles as he slid his hands down her sides to her waist. Again, he stole her breath as he kissed her deeply, and she kissed him back feverishly, as if she needed him to survive, the way someone who was drowning would cling to a life raft.

Even though she couldn't see him, they had no need for any more words, as was further proved by the fact that she gave no protest when his nimble fingers found the zipper at the back of her corset. As he undid the zipper and pulled the straps down her arms, she freed her hands from his hair, allowing him to toss her top aside. She ran her hands over his chest, trying to find and figure out his own clothes, but without being able to see, she was failing miserably.

She thought she heard him chuckle softly as he took her hands in his, kissing her fingers, "Let me, love."

* * *

She rested her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. They were both still trying to catch their breath, and she was briefly lost in her own world, a tidal wave of thoughts and emotions washing over her. She still didn't understand why she felt this way, she only knew that she did, and it was much deeper and stronger than she had ever thought before. All of a sudden, something occurred to her, and she pushed herself up on her elbows.

"What is it?" Y asked.

"I want these off," she replied, raising one hand to the bandages around her head, covering her eyes.

He didn't say anything more, but did as she wanted, slowly unraveling the white material.

She kept her eyes closed for a moment more after he'd removed them, not sure if she was going to be able to see as well as she thought she would, or if she'd just gotten her hopes up. Slowly, she eased her eyes open. Everything was dark, blurry, and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. Things started to come into focus, colors asserting themselves were they belonged, shapes and tones all proper.

"I…I can see…" she whispered in awe.

For a moment, she was afraid to raise her eyes to his face, afraid of what she would see-or wouldn't see. At last though, she forced herself to, for the first time gazing upon the face of the man who had saved her life, who she was inexplicably drawn to, and she froze when she saw him. Her gaze was immediately drawn to his long hair-silver, it was silver. His skin was pale and flawless, his eyes a vibrant green, the pupils feline-like. Him! It was him! She knew it at once; he was the one she had been chasing through the city, the one who had left her food that time, and given her Heaven and Hell. It had been him all along and he'd never said a word about it.

"You," she breathed, "It's you…"

He smiled slightly, running a hand through her hair, tracing one ice blue streak, "Yes," he said simply.

Her awe and surprise quickly turned to anger though, and she narrowed her eyes, "All this time, and you never said anything!" she accused, one of the few full sentences she'd ever spoken.

"I wanted to see if you would figure it out on your own," he explained, brushing the back of his hand gently across her cheek.

"How could you?" she said, "Why didn't you just tell me? How could you, Yazoo." The name slipped so easily from her lips, as if she'd known it all her life, and it felt so right. She stopped as soon as she said it though, gazing at him with wide eyes.

"You remember," he said softly, smiling again.

She remembered his name, yes, but as of yet not much more than that. He was important to her, she knew. No, he was more than that; he was her world, she loved him more than life itself. He was hers, and she, his.

"I…I love you." She spoke the words she hadn't been able to before, and they were true, sincere.

"I know," he replied, sliding his hand gently to the back of her neck, "My beautiful Sophronica."

He kissed her tenderly, and she returned the kiss, giving herself to him again, and knowing at this moment that no one would ever come between them.


	10. Past Life

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews, hehe x3 As a special treat for today, since I nearly have this fic completed, I'm going to post up two chapters =3

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**Chapter Ten – "Past Life"**

She was still fussing over her long blue gloves as she slipped into the main room, where the eldest brother was standing by the window, gazing out across the city that the morning sun was lighting up. Satisfied with her gloves, she looked up as he turned, smiling at his expression when he saw that she was without the bandages over her eyes. Silver hair and cat's eyes too, just as she was sure the youngest brother would possess as well.

"Good morning, Loz," she greeted him, and his eyes widened further.

"You can see! And you remember!" he said, sounding elated.

Before she could get a chance to say that she really only remember names and vague feelings for now, he'd crossed the room towards her and swept her up in a tight hug. For a moment, she was startled, but then she smiled again, laughing softly.

"Down boy, I like breathing you know," she said, and the fact that she was displaying a sense of humor further pleased him.

"Sorry," he said shyly, smiling a bit as he let her go.

"I don't know a whole lot, only names for now," she said, "Which brings me to the fact that you all _lied_ to me," she punched him lightly on the arm.

"It was his idea!" Loz whimpered, quickly throwing the blame on Yazoo, who'd just emerged from the other room as well.

"Don't worry," she assured the eldest brother, "I've gotten over it already."

"Well, you certainly have gotten more loquacious."

The voice of the youngest brother came from the hallway behind her, and she turned to face him. The moment she laid eyes on him, her whole world seemed to spin. Shoulder-length silver hair, sweeping across the side of his face, green cat's eyes-it was _him_. Her vision flickered, a fuzzy image laying itself over the scene before her. Kadaj standing in the hallway of some house, just like he was now, except that Loz stood behind him. An argument, voices that she could hear but not make out what they were saying. The image flickered out, quickly replaced by one that passed much faster; his peaceful face as he slept, her sitting next to him with her arm around his shoulders, keeping his nightmares at bay. It vanished swiftly, replaced by a third image; a crowd of soldiers, Kadaj leaping down into their midst. She saw the one that was aiming to shoot him, pulled him back, took the shots herself and saved him.

Then, all at once, the scenes disappeared, leaving her standing in the quiet sanctuary once more with the three brothers, though she felt off balance, and stumbled half a step as she felt a sharp pang in her chest.

"Are you alright?" Yazoo asked at once, stepping closer to place a hand on her arm in case she started to fall.

"Yeah," she said, forcing a small smile, though her eyes never left Kadaj, "Just a little dizzy." Even as she said it though, there was another sharp twinge of pain in her chest, and she fought not to raise a hand to the spot.

"Forgive me, I…I need some air," she muttered, leaving the room.

A hallway, another room, an open window that led to a fire escape. She climbed easily through the window, moving to the opposite side of the metal landing and resting her hands on the railing as she closed her eyes, taking slow, deep breaths. The morning sun was warm on her face, the slight breeze stirring her silver and blue locks, and the sounds of the city drifted up to her. She heard some one else climb through the window, and opened her eyes, but didn't move.

"What's wrong?" Kadaj asked quietly, "You freaked when you saw me."

She turned slightly to look back at him, seeing that he was leaning against the brick wall beside the window, and the twinge was now a stab in her chest, making her wince slightly. "I died, didn't I," she said, getting straight to the point, "Protecting you."

He didn't answer right away, turning his gaze down to avoid looking at her, and it was immediately obvious to her that he felt guilty about it-still, however many years ago it had happened. "You did," he said, looking back to her, "But you were reborn, and everything worked out."

She was silent, turning her head to gaze out over the city again as she processed this information. She had died in the past; these images were from another lifetime, another place, maybe even another planet.

"It was a past life, everything's different now. Don't worry so much about it," he said gently.

"That's…not all that's bothering me," she said, sighing.

"What is it?" he inquired, tilting his head to the side.

"I…" she didn't know how to start, wasn't sure how to go about saying this, and resorted to hedging around it, "I love _Yazoo_…don't I?"

Silence followed her words, and after a few moments, she turned to see why. He had almost immediately understood what she meant, and once more had averted his eyes from her.

"Yeah, you do," Kadaj said quietly.

She saw that what she'd said bothered him, and moved forward to hug him, kissing the top of his head in a sisterly fashion-even though it caused another faint twinge in her chest.

"Well, well, two little mice," a voice crowed, causing the two to start in surprise. "Two for the price of one."

Sophronica pulled away from Kadaj, turning to see Enkeli hovering in the air some distance away, her arms outstretched with orbs of fire blazing over each palm. The Inorganique Angel grinned down at them, and then wasted no more time; she flung the fireballs at them. Sophronica was the first to react, whirling about, and with an apologetic look, she pushed Kadaj back through the open window, ignoring his protests as he sprawled to the floor inside-she had to know that he was safe, that they were safe. She quickly dropped to the floor of the landing as the flames flew by over her head, one hitting the metal ladder, the other crashing into the side of the building, each resulting in miniature explosions.

Even as she was springing back up to her feet, Enkeli threw another pair of fireballs at her, these aimed more accurately at the landing where she stood. Not even thinking about what she was doing, Sophronica hopped up onto the railing, and then leaped out into space. As she was falling, the flaming orbs collided with the fire escape, causing the metal to tear and melt, sparks exploding. Another fireball whizzed past her head, and the ground was swiftly approaching, but oddly, she wasn't worried in the least. Some locked away, forgotten part of her was being brought into the light, the dust swept from it, the door being opened, and all at once, it happened.

There was a faint sound like cracking bones, but no pain accompanied it, just a peculiar sensation in her left shoulder. Black feathers obscured her view for the briefest of moments as the large wing flared out from her back, the tip stretching to its fullest, and then it curved, catching the wind. Instead of falling now, she was soaring back up, supported easily with this black wing. It was larger than she remembered it being-and she _did_ remember it now. She knew who she was at last, more than just a name, she knew why she was capable of doing these things that she did. She was Sophronica, twin sister to the Nightmare, the One Winged Angel, Sephiroth. She was the possessor of the second half of the pair of wings that had been split between them, and she _would_ show Enkeli that she could be just as much of a nightmare as her brother.


	11. Battle of the Angels

**A/N:** Aaaand, chapter number two for today =3 Enjoy.

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**Chapter Eleven – "Battle of the Angels"**

"How dare you!" Enkeli snarled as Sophronica shot past her up into the sky; she was obviously enraged to find that she was not the only one who possessed the ability to fly.

Sophronica merely smirked as she flared out her wing again, keeping aloft some distance above the other woman-if Enkeli could be called a woman at all. "It's me you want, and here I am," she said, spreading her arms, inviting a battle.

Enkeli snarled again, flapping her nightmare wings to rise up to Sophronica's level. She suddenly smirked as well though, an unusual calm seeming to fall over her, "Of course it's you I want, but after I'm through with you, I'm going to take care of those three little mice you've been keeping company with."

Her words caused her silver haired opponent's expression to darken, her arms falling back to her sides, "You won't get a chance to."

The brunette continued on as if she hadn't heard her though, "I'll slaughter them, one by one," she tilted her head back, smiling as though the thought pleased her-and given her obvious insanity, it probably did.

Clouds began to draw together in the sky above them, but Enkeli didn't seem to notice.

"I'll make sure they suffer," she promised, "I'll rip them limb from limb."

Sophronica said nothing, well aware that the brunette was trying to push her to lose her temper and do something rash and stupid. Above them though, the sky grew darker.

Neither of them noticed that the three in question had made it to a rooftop below them, but were unable to do anything but watch due to their elevation.

"Maybe I'll start with the little one you were talking to earlier," Enkeli mused aloud.

"I'm sick of listening to you talk," Sophronica interrupted venomously, her eyes dark, "Especially about things you'll never get to do."

"I struck a nerve, didn't I?" Enkeli said with a wicked grin, straightening her head, "They must be important to you, though I can't fathom why; you're a stranger to this world."

Sophronica didn't grace her with a reply, reverting back to her less talkative self, and instead reached back to draw Heaven and Hell. The air around them was growing cool, the cloud above them heavy with rain. Without another moment's hesitation, she leveled the gunblade katana and opened fire on Enkeli. The brunette darted through the air, dodging the bullets and moving ever closer to her opponent. As she drew near, a long blade composed entirely of flames formed in her hands, and she swung it at Sophronica. The silver haired warrior easily blocked the blow with one katana, bringing the other around swiftly towards Enkeli's side, though the other woman knocked her blade aside.

The Inorganique Angel struck another blow with her flame sword, and her opponent blocked once more, moved to the side, and landed a kick to Enkeli's stomach. The brunette didn't even seem to feel the hit as she stabbed her blade forward. Sophronica glided backwards to avoid the move, and Enkeli got in a slashing blow across her thigh. The fiery sword instantly cauterized the wound it dealt, and she only hissed slightly in pain, the air growing even colder.

As their battle continued, the sky grew darker until it started to rain, the drops of water as cold as ice, and also while they fought, the wound on her leg healed itself, much faster than she'd healed before. Sophronica deflected another blow from Enkeli's flame sword, slashing her gunblade katana down at her opponent's shoulders, but Enkeli managed to avoid the blows, twisting to the side and pulling her wings in close to lunge forward. There was burning pain as her fiery blade slid easily through Sophronica's stomach, and at once all of her actions came to a halt.

From where they were watching, Yazoo grew pale at the blow. Loz's eyes were wide in surprise, and Kadaj looked over to the middle brother.

"She's been through worse, remember brother? She'll be okay-see?" he said quickly, masking his own twinge of worry.

With a wince and a growl, Sophronica backhanded Enkeli across the face before smashing the flat of one gunblade katana against the side of her head. The brunette tumbled backward through the air from the force of the blows, struggling to flap her wings again to right herself so she wouldn't fall to the ground below. The wound Sophronica had received, though quite painful, wasn't going to stop her, and was already starting to heal even-but the blow enraged her, that this warrior-wanna be was so fast and cunning.

The rain that fell around her turned to ice, and a low rumbling sound started from below them. The sound swiftly grew louder, seeming to be coming from the ground itself, and to prove this assumption, the glass panes of the windows in the surrounding buildings began to rattle. Enkeli started to appear uneasy as she looked around, trying to figure out what was happening before it was too late, but Sophronica only smiled. All at once, the ground split open in a dozen different places, pavement cracking, shifting like in an earthquake, causing people and cars to scatter this way and that. Large, jagged icicles rose from the seams, as tall as the tallest buildings, glistening in their crystalline perfection.

One even rose just behind Enkeli, causing her to tumble through the air again to avoid it, growling curses as she went. "Your tricks don't impress me," she sneered as soon as she'd righted herself once more.

Down below, a smile formed on Kadaj's face as he looked from the ice formations to Sophronica. "She's like Jenova," he said.

"What?" Loz asked, puzzled as he looked to his youngest brother.

"The calamity from the sky," Kadaj said patiently, "Her powers, everything she's done since coming here."

"She is," Yazoo agreed, though his eyes never left Sophronica, "Traveling the galaxy has made her powers incredible, and if she hadn't come to this planet, none of us would be here, we would have remained in the Lifestream forever."

Loz tilted his head to the side, considering this as he looked back to the two figures high above them. "She is like Mother," he nodded.

Sophronica shrugged at Enkeli's comment, "I really could care less," she said, "Since you're just an over-arrogant, over-powered bitch."

Enkeli snarled like a rabid dog, the flaming sword in her hand exploding in length until it was a dual ended spear-an obvious sign of her anger. Sophronica merely smirked; it seemed like someone could dish the abuse, but not take it in return. With a war cry that was fueled more by her temper than anything else, Enkeli gripped her newly formed spear in both hands and shot towards Sophronica like a winged bullet.


	12. Battle of the Angels Pt 2

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews =3 Khehe, I love cliffhangers x3 And to answer your question: Yes, she is staying with Yazoo. She was just making sure she understood all of her emotions. And again, I will be posting up two chapters x3 Enjoy~

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**Chapter Twelve – "Battle of the Angels Pt. 2"**

Sophronica dodged and blocked blow after blow from Enkeli, each successful evasion enraging the Inorganique Angel more and more. The rain continued to fall, though now it steadily came down as small drops of ice, clinking against her gunblade katana as the two fought. Leaning backwards to avoid another swipe from Enkeli's flaming spear, she landed a sharp kick to the brunette's face, jerking her head to the side. She snarled when she looked back to Sophronica, and the other woman's eyes widened ever so slightly; so there was more than one reason why Enkeli was called the Inorganique Angel.

The blow had torn off the skin on Enkeli's cheek, leaving it dangling by a few threads, and she reached up to yank it the rest of the way off. There was no blood and muscles beneath, there was only silver metal.

"You ruined my face," she growled, saying each word slowly to stress how angry she was.

"It's an improvement," Sophronica taunted with a smirk, covering up her surprise.

Enkeli growled again, swinging her spear forward. Her opponent knocked her weapon away, blocking again when she swung the other end of the spear afterwards. Blades clashed again and again, the heat from Enkeli's spear seeming greater than it really was because of how cold the surrounding air was. Enkeli brought her spear around swiftly, one side of it catching Sophronica in the side and sending her tumbling backward through the air. She stopped when she hit one of the large icicles, quickly regaining her composure just in time to duck under another blow from Enkeli, tucking her wing in close as the flaming spear struck the ice above her head, scorching a track across it.

Sophronica lashed out with a kick that caught Enkeli in the shin, but of course the blow didn't do very much. She gave a strong flap with her wing, rising up higher, and sheathed Heaven and Hell to raise her hands. As she did so, the falling rain began to run together, forming numerous icicles, long and sharp, all of them turning to aim at her opponent. Enkeli growled, moving swiftly towards Sophronica, obviously not seeming to be bothered by the ice. She should have been though, because a split second later they all shot towards her. The icicles ripped through the skin on her wings, rendering them incapable of flight, and she shouted curses as she started to fall, raising her arms to protect her head, her spear raised in front of her.

A larger icicle pierced through her chest, its momentum carrying her backwards until it embedded into the side of a building, pinning her there. Sophronica looked down at Enkeli, lowering her hands to her sides. She couldn't see how the brunette would recover from that, even if she was a cyborg-a wound like that had to short circuit her systems, result in some critical meltdown or whatever. Enkeli was struggling though, still shouting curses and threats at the opponent she could no longer reach, but Sophronica just smirked; this battle was won.

Of course, that was what she thought until the Inorganique Angel raised her hands in front of her, the flames that had previously been her spear hovering in the air in-between. It still had the shape of the spear, but only one sharp tip, and it was growing larger. Growling softly in frustration, Sophronica waved one hand almost absently, another barrage of icicles forming in the air around her. It happened at the same time; the icicles shot towards Enkeli, and the brunette let go of the flaming weapon she had formed, sending it flying.

Sophronica started to move to avoid it, but suddenly her vision flickered, like an old television screen trying to get reception, and she froze in place, all active thought process evading her grasp. Hundreds of images were pouring through her mind, overwhelming her, crashing over her and drawing her down into their depths like riptide. These were…the memories of her life, everything she had experienced for years up until the moment she woke up here, in the laboratory. It was all so much, a synaptic overload, and by the time some tiny piece of her mind remembered that at the current time she was in danger, it was too late for her to do anything about it.

It was now more than ever that the three brothers wished they had wings too, so that they could help her, instead of standing by helplessly, unable to do anything about it as they watched the attack heading towards her. Of the three of them, Yazoo wanted to help her more than anything, longed to go to her side. Why didn't she move, why didn't she do anything? It would be so easy for her to evade that attack, if only she'd move. Of course none of them noticed, but if one had cared to look, they would have seen a shadow of a wing branching from his back-much smaller than those possessed by Sophronica and Sephiroth of course, but there was a shadow nonetheless. Or maybe it was better no one noticed-who knew what the _shadow_ of a wing meant, after all?

The weapon of flames hit Sophronica squarely in the chest, driving her back against the opposite building, and when the gathered energy of the fire hit the bricks, it resulted in an explosion. Her eyes were wide and blank as she fell through the air, not even registering the pain from her wound, or much of what just happened. Chunks of rubble from the building fell with her, the whole corner of it seeming to have been effected by the explosion. She heard a voice screaming her name and blinked, turning her gaze towards the sound, but she couldn't see. She knew that voice, she knew it very well. It was-

She hit the ground hard, her wing snapping upon impact, and had about two seconds to see people fleeing in all directions, to hear them screaming and shouting about what was going on, because the next second she pitched to the side, rolling down a slope. She fell into the crack created by one of the pillars of ice, her already broken wing smacking against the side of the icicle. A moment later, the rubble broken off from the side of the building crashed to the ground as well, burying her beneath it all.


	13. Sacred

**A/N:** Here we have the second chapter for today =D Aaaaaand…Yazoo finally gets something cool! And it goes completely unexplained XD So everyone can speculate until the day I possibly DO explain it. Though I'm not so sure myself, so yeah.

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**Chapter Thirteen – "Sacred"**

No! She had taken the blow straight to the chest and fallen from the sky like a stone. He wasn't aware of it at the time, but he was told later that he screamed her name as she fell. He leaned over the edge, wincing as she hit the ground. He lost sight of her as the chunks of brick and concrete crashed to the pavement atop her, and he felt as though his blood had turned to ice.

All at once, he knew he had to get to her, he had to find her as soon as possible-there was no way that she could be dead. He started to climb up onto the ledge that surrounded the rooftop, and it took a second for Loz and Kadaj to realize what he was planning on doing.

"Yazoo, no, you can't," Kadaj said, grabbing onto his arm.

Yazoo shook him off though, slapping away Loz's hands as he went.

Kadaj was persistent though, and grabbed tightly onto the middle brother's coat. "Yazoo, don't, just-" he started.

"Let go of me," Yazoo said venomously, whirling back to Kadaj.

The youngest brother shrank away at once, unsure. Yazoo had never spoken to him that way before, neither of his brothers had.

Before turning back to the edge, Yazoo shot Loz a look of warning-a look that clearly said he wouldn't hesitate to hurt him if he tried to stop him. Then, without a moment's hesitation, he stepped over the edge into empty space. Both Kadaj and Loz immediately moved to the ledge, gazing down. Kadaj felt sick about what was going on-first Sophronica was lost, perhaps fatally wounded, and then Yazoo does this. He didn't know what the fool was thinking-there was no way he could survive that fall.

As they watched though, the most amazing thing happened, something neither of them had expected or would have ever though possible. Right before their eyes, a sole black wing flared out from Yazoo's back, feathers scattering through the air. It was small-small compared to those of the twins, that is, but it was there nonetheless, and obviously capable of doing its purpose, as his descent began to slow. Utterly dumbfounded, Kadaj and Loz blinked at each other, their eyes wide. Yazoo…with a wing…

He hit the ground lightly, paying no attention to the wing that had now vanished from sight, unlike his brothers, his full focus on finding Sophronica. The rain still fell as tiny bits of ice, and the air was still frigid, especially here, right next to one of the jagged ice formations that jutted from the ground, but none of that existed to him right now. All he saw was the pile of rubble before him as he moved chunks of it aside, tossing them out of the way, knowing that somewhere underneath was the woman he loved. He worked tirelessly, ignoring the strain he felt in his arms after a while, refusing to stop until he found her.

He encountered a particularly large chunk of concrete, one that was too heavy for him to lift no matter how hard he tried, and it was at that moment that another set of hands grabbed onto the edge of it. Somewhat startled, as he had been so lost in his thoughts, he looked over to see Loz, who nodded to him, and together they moved the slab of concrete out of the way. On the other side of Loz, Kadaj was there as well now, helping his brothers to move the debris. The more they moved though, the more Yazoo worried-because she wasn't there, she wasn't beneath any of this.

There was another particularly large, heavy piece of rubble, this one bricks and mortar-obviously having been part of the outside of the building, that was slightly propped up against the side of the icicle, and the two older brothers worked on moving it together, sliding/dragging it to the side. There! She was there, down in the small fissure that had been formed by the ice breaking through the pavement. She was covered with dirt and blood, but her face was peaceful, serene, as though she'd just laid down for a nap. At once he started forward, to go down and get her, but Loz held him back, letting Kadaj go since he was the smallest of the three.

The youngest brother slid down into the small fissure, landing lightly beside Sophronica and bracing himself with one hand against the side of the glistening icicle. She reminded him of a broken doll, the way she was laying there, a beautiful broken doll that someone had grown tired of and merely thrown aside, and for a moment, it all felt so surreal to him. His pulse quicken as he bent and carefully lifted her in his arms, taking the utmost care not to jostle her. She didn't move at all as he held her up for Yazoo to take, and he was starting to fear that she wasn't even breathing.

Yazoo took her in his arms as soon as he could reach her, a flood of emotions sweeping through his eyes. He carried her a few feet away, away from all the debris, and set her down, gauging how bad her wounds were as he cradled her head in the bend of his arm. Kadaj quickly climbed back out of the fissure, catching up to his brothers. He was just as worried as they were, even more worried by the fact that no one had said a word yet, and this time he did nothing to mask the emotion. Sophronica's eyes remained shut, her body limp as though her bones were made of rubber, and the scorched wound in her chest was painful to look at, each of them knowing very well that it could be fatal.

Wordlessly still, and with shortened breath, the middle brother held his hand over her wound, a soft glow emanating from his palm. Slowly but surely, the wound began to heal, the scorched skin fading in color, returning to what it should be, the flesh stitching itself together once more. Still, she didn't stir, though surely she should by now. Her wound had been tended to, she had luckily escaped being crushed by the hundreds of pounds of rubble, and yet she didn't awaken. Despair swept over him, and his eyes began to become even more distant and lost-this couldn't happen, he couldn't lose her again, he'd sworn he'd never let it happen.

Kadaj suddenly put a hand on his shoulder, and he flinched from the contact. "Brother…" he said softly, a certain emotion he couldn't quite pinpoint in his voice, "She's _breathing_…she's _alive_."

At his words, Yazoo looked closer at Sophronica; yes-his brother was right. Soft, shallow breaths shifted her frame ever so slightly, giving the only visible clue that she still lived.

"She'll wake up soon then," Loz said, his voice strained as he clearly sounded like he was trying not to cry, "Just like you did."

"Yes, yes she will," Yazoo said, his voice sounding hollow. Lifting her in his arms again, he stood, turning to his brothers.

"We'll keep her safe until then," Kadaj said with a nod, seeing the look in his brother's eyes.

"Just make sure Enkeli is dead," Yazoo said.

"Of course," Loz said, even though there wasn't much of a chance that the Inorganique Angel had survived the last icicle barrage.

After all, one could never be too sure, especially with their history of returning foes.


	14. To Forgive Yourself

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews =3 One of my friends said that to me once, that it's a shame none of the fanfics I write will ever be officially published or anything x3 Okay, chapter fourteen. We're getting down to the wire here. There will be another two chapters today, and then the final epilogue tomorrow x3

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**Chapter Fourteen – "To Forgive Yourself"**

She stirred with a quiet sound, opening her eyes slowly, and then quickly shutting them again as she was blinded by a bright light. For the moment, she didn't remember what had happened last, and stretched her arms over her head, working the kinks out of her shoulders. She opened her eyes again, blinking rapidly against the bright light, and sat up, looking around. As soon as she did though, she remembered everything-her fight with Enkeli, the explosion, being wounded, buried under the rubble, and the moment that she regained her memories from her 'past life'.

She swayed as she sat there, for a moment overwhelmed with it all. The room she was in was unfamiliar, and that didn't help any. It seemed pleasant though; spacious, bland walls, wood floor, a mirror and a dresser. She raised a hand quickly to her chest, where the wound had been, and found that it was completely gone. Looking down at herself, she realized she was wearing a different top-which made sense since she was sure the one she'd been wearing was scorched in the fight. She didn't know where this top-a v-neck vest-came from, as if obviously didn't belong to any of the three, but she wasn't about to question it.

She looked up again as she heard footsteps creaking on the wood, and saw Kadaj standing in the doorway, gazing at her with wide eyes from behind his veil of silver hair. Neither of them said a word, but apparently he didn't need any invitation to dash into the room and throw his arms around her. She could tell that he was careful about it though, as if he were afraid to hurt her. She returned his tight hug, this greeting making her worry about how long she'd been out.

"I was worried you were never going to wake up," she heard him say almost inaudibly, and again she wondered.

"How long…?" she couldn't manage to finish as he pulled away, sitting beside her.

"…A while," he replied quietly, ducking his head.

"_How long_?" she repeated gently.

He glanced over to her, then away again, "About two weeks," he relented at last.

"Two weeks?" she said breathlessly, processing this information.

"Yazoo's been such a wreck," he said, drawing his knees up to his chest and resting his feet on the edge of the bed, "He's been so _emo_, it's been horrible." He was trying to make a joke, but the words came out dark and serious. "I should go get him," he added quickly, starting to rise, "So he can stop worrying."

"Wait," Sophronica said, catching him lightly by the wrist, "There's something I want to talk to you about first."

Puzzled and a little nervous, he sat down again, shaking his hair back from his eyes as he looked over at her.

"When I fought Enkeli…I remembered everything," she said quietly, and her serious tone caused all the color to drain from his face.

Was she mad at him for one of the dozens of stupid things he'd done?

"I just want to be sure that you don't blame yourself for anything that happened," she said, "It's not your fault for wanting to protect your family, and it's certainly not your fault for what Nero did."

He blinked at her words, turning his gaze to the floor. "But I was a fool. I acted so stupid, and I was so weak."

"Stop that," she said fiercely, placing her hand gently on his chin and turning his head, forcing him to look at her, "_It's not your fault_."

"It's because of me that you died, that they died, that-"

"_Kadaj_," she said, and her warning tone caused him to fall silent. "No one blames you. Stop blaming yourself."

"If you say so," he sighed.

She shook her head a bit, "You are so stubborn."

He smiled a bit. "Have I ever changed?"

"Just think about what I said," she knew that he would of course, and hoped that he would stop blaming himself, "Now, where's Yazoo?"

"Outside, on the porch," Kadaj replied as she stood.

"Thanks," she said, ruffling his hair affectionately.

He scowled as she left the room, fixing his hair, but then he smiled, shaking his head slightly; no matter how many times she got on his nerves, he loved her nonetheless.

* * *

She slipped silently through the front door, seeing that Yazoo was standing at the top step of the porch, facing away from her. The wood creaked under her footsteps, but he didn't move, and she supposed that he thought it was one of his brothers. She walked towards him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, and nuzzled her cheek against the side of his neck. She felt him tense at her touch and took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment.

"I've missed you so much," she murmured.

He turned in her arms and she opened her eyes to gaze upon his face. His expression was surprised, but pleasantly so, and she started to smile, brushing her fingers down the side of his face.

"I heard you were-" she started, but he interrupted her with a kiss, embracing her tightly.

She kissed him back, not minding the interruption at all, and traced a pattern lightly on the back of his neck with her fingertips. Breaking the kiss, he leaned his forehead against hers, gazing into her eyes. They were silent for a long moment, simply enjoying the company of the other.

"I love you," he said quietly.

She smiled softly. "I love you too, Tenshi."

She could see the joy in his eyes when she used that old, endearing nickname-a sure sign that she remembered everything, and she felt her heart lightening as his despair began to evaporate.

"I told you we'd be together again in another life," he said.

"You did," she said, her voice quiet though she was overjoyed, "Just like you promised." She nuzzled her head against his shoulder, her fingers curling tightly around the collar of his coat.

"I'd never let you down," he replied, stroking the back of her head with one gloved hand.

A sudden worry needled its way into her mind at that moment though, and she frowned slightly. "Enkeli?" she questioned.

"Gone for good," Yazoo said, "We made sure of that. No one from the laboratory will be bothering us ever again either."

"Why is that?" she asked, tracing one finger almost absently down the back of his neck.

He shivered slightly before he spoke, and she smiled ever so slightly, though he couldn't see. "They had an unfortunate accident," he said, "Apparently a large ice formation damaged something critical and they suffered a meltdown."

"That's too bad," Sophronica said, feigning disappointment, "Looks like we'll have to live out our lives in peace."

"That doesn't sound so terrible now, does it?" he said, and she could tell that he was smiling.

"No, not at all. It sounds wonderful," she murmured with a content sigh.

"Aren't you happy?" he asked.

She pulled back just enough to look at him. "Of course I'm happy!" she said with a slight laugh, "I'm more than happy. This just all feels so surreal, like a dream, and I'm afraid I'm going to wake up from it."

He gave her a sly smile, kissing her again, "Would you like me to convince you that you're not dreaming?"

She couldn't help but to smile herself then, a bright glimmer in her eyes. "Yes, I think I'd like that very much."

Without another word he swept her up in his arms, carrying her across the porch. He nudged the door open with his foot, and once they were through, he kicked it closed once more. The door shut with a definitive sound, and it seemed to mean so much more than it appeared to on the surface. It was like a symbol, that all of the hardship and strife they'd gone through for so many years, all of the death, lose, and despair, was all done and over with. Today was the start of a new chapter in their lives, and the future looked bright.


	15. A Surprise and Very Important Question

**A/N:** Second chapter for today. I especially loved writing this. The end was a bit hard though, because I kept getting emotional x3; I've been working on this series for so long everyone feels so real to me. Anyway, enjoy =3

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**Chapter Fifteen – "A Surprise and Very Important Question"**

The three of them all looked up at once when she returned to the kitchen, one hand over her stomach, from another morning of throwing up. She froze when she saw them all looking at her expectantly, and then looked around to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary. Looking back to them, she raised an eyebrow before continuing into the kitchen, returning to her seat at the table. Loz and Kadaj exchanged glances, the two of them then looking to Yazoo, who had calmly returned to finishing his toast. When Kadaj continued staring at her, she just couldn't take it any more.

"_Why_ do you all keep looking at me like I've sprouted antennae out of my head?" she demanded, looking at each brother in turn.

Loz promptly blushed, and she narrowed her eyes, now even more curious as to what she had missed while she was out of the room just a few moments ago.

"_Well_?" she prompted when no one said a word.

Kadaj cleared his throat, and at once Loz jumped away from the table like it had been electrified, dumping his plate and silverware in the sink before exiting the room as though it were about to catch on fire.

Now Sophronica was even more confused, looking from Kadaj to Yazoo, who had looked up again.

Kadaj turned to give his older brother a look, obviously wanting him out of the room as well, but Yazoo just gazed back at him. "I am _not_ leaving," he said.

"Yes you are," the youngest brother said pleasantly, "I want to have a word with Sophy."

She raised an eyebrow at the nickname, as she'd never heard it before, but made no comment; she didn't really mind, it was cute. "If someone doesn't tell me what's going on…" she started, looking between the two of them.

"_I'm_ the only one who's going to speak with her about this, as I believe it concerns her and I, and _not_ you, brother," Yazoo said, standing and grabbing the back of Kadaj's coat collar.

"Hey! Stop that!" Kadaj protested as he was pulled to his feet and propelled towards the door, "Let me go!"

His struggling got him nowhere though, as a moment later he was pushed through the door, and as it shut-the door being of the swinging variety-Yazoo slid the latch into place so that it would _stay_ closed. Muttering to himself about his brothers, he turned and walked back to the table, though hesitated before sitting down again.

"Is something wrong?" Sophronica asked, "Is the end of the world coming? Is a comet going to hit? Is something going to ruin the final peace of our lives?"

He looked at her for a moment, blinking his silver hair out of his eyes, as he tried to discern whether she was being serious or not. "No, it's nothing like that," he assured her.

She seemed relieved, though was still suspicious about what was going on, "Then what's all the weird looks about?"

He ducked his head for a moment, and she raised an eyebrow when she realized that he was actually _blushing_, however faintly, but it was still there.

"You can tell me," she prompted, "You know I won't bite-unless you ask me to," she added with a quick grin, trying to make him more calm.

"Well," he said, seeming to be choosing his words carefully, "This is the fourth time this week you've been sick in the morning."

She caught the hint immediately, and nodded slowly, "Ah, I see," she said, "So this is why you three were acting like turkeys on Thanksgiving."

He frowned at her analogy, and she laughed at his expression. "You know, I was sick more than just this week, I was just better at hiding it before," she admitted, looking down at the table for a moment.

"So are you…?" he started, gazing at her intently, his pulse quickening.

"I didn't want to say anything before, until I was sure," she said, almost shyly. Mentally, she blamed him for her hesitation; he was flustered, and that was so rare, since he was almost always the calm one-it was throwing her off just a bit. "But…yeah, I am."

For a moment, he didn't say anything, and she knew that he must still be processing this information. "You're…pregnant…" he said, as if he had to hear the words himself to be sure he wasn't imagining this whole thing.

"I KNEW IT!"

"PREGNANT!!"

Voices shouted from out in the hall, followed by a sudden scuffle and a yelp as the old latch on the door broke off, allowing the door to swing open and send the other two brothers tumbling to the floor. Sophronica gazed down at them with raised eyebrows as Kadaj smacked Loz upside the head, and she could only guess that their sudden appearance was the eldest's fault. She looked over to Yazoo as his brothers started bickering, an argument breaking out from the abuse Loz had received, and the middle brother shrugged helplessly. Unable to help herself, she started laughing at the whole situation, and before long, the two fighting stopped to blink up at her. Soon after, they started laughing as well-though probably mostly glad that they weren't in trouble for eavesdropping.

* * *

She snuggled closer against his side, resting her head on his shoulder as they sat on the porch steps, watching the sinking sun throwing its red and gold hues across the grassland and trees, and in the distance, the city. It was so beautiful, and it had been so long since she'd had the time to enjoy the sunset, it was like a blessing-especially being about to share it with the one she loved most.

"Sophronica," he said slowly, and she could tell there was something on his mind.

"Yes?" she said, pulling back slightly to look over at him.

"There's something I'd like to ask you," Yazoo said, his green eyes serious, "It's…very important, and no matter your answer, I want you to be honest."

"Okay," she said, bewildered, her heart beginning to beat faster as a few possibilities wormed their way into her thoughts.

She watched silently as he pulled away, moving to stand in front of her, and when he got down on one knee, she forgot to breathe-though her heart had quite the opposite reaction.

He took her hand between his, and spoke the words that she had dreamed of hearing for years. "Sophronica, will you marry me?"

For a second, she just blinked, the words sinking in, and when they did, she felt the start of tears in her eyes. "Yes," she whispered, then cleared her throat and said it again so there would not be any doubts on her answer, "Yes."

She looked down as he slid the ring on her finger, though she really couldn't see it because her vision was blurring with tears-it was a simple band, she thought, silver, with some sort of engraving, and inlaid with what looked like an emerald. It was beautiful, but what the ring looked like didn't matter to her-it was what it symbolized that meant the most. Looking back up to him, she smiled, moving forward to wrap her arms tightly around him. He returned the embrace, and she started to cry silently-for the first time crying and not caring if it made her weak or not, this was entirely different than anything else ever before.

"You're crying?" Yazoo asked, sounding concerned.

She laughed slightly, drawing back to look at him. "I'm happy," she whispered, "I'm so happy."

It was true; she'd dreamed of this day, but with everything they'd gone through, repeats of death and destruction, a seemingly endless cycle, she hadn't really believed this would ever come. But it had, and she felt like her heart was going to burst with joy, or float away up into the sky, it was so light.

He smiled, lightly brushing away her tears before tracing his thumb along her ice blue lips, "Then smile, don't cry," he said softly.

She _did_ smile then, brushing her fingers through the silver bangs that swept over his forehead. "I love you," and then she kissed him tenderly.


	16. Epilogue

**A/N:** Thank you for the reviews =3 You know, I never considered twins for this fic, but funny enough, that's basically what happened in this RP I have Sophy in-she had triplets, two of them identical twin boys who each have a wing, just like her and Sephiroth =3 Alas, here we have the final chapter, the final happy ending, just like I promised they would have. I'm sad about ending this series, I got so attached to all the characters, and fell in love with the whole thing. Of course, this is why I plan on writing-possibly-a collection of short humor ficlets about our Catalyst group, and possibly a prequel or two to the whole series =3 Either way, I will be writing more Final Fantasy fics, so be on the look out. Add on: Ah yes, x3 lyrics to Yazoo's song are from She Is Love, by Parachute, which inspired this whole epilogue.

* * *

**Epilogue**

**Happy Ending**

There was a very small group gathered at the day of their wedding-only four not counting themselves and the minister. There was Kadaj and Loz of course, each of them looking quite dashing all dressed up-though Kadaj had been complaining earlier; apparently he didn't like these clothes. He had been assured many times though that he _looked_ good in them, and eventually he'd quieted, especially when he'd caught sight of Ali, who'd smiled at him when she'd arrived with Jayde. They didn't mind only a small group anyway-they didn't need a lot of people, and everything turned out fine this way.

There had been some squabbles over things-such as the fact that Kadaj and Loz had fought over who would adopt the role of giving her away, since she had no father-and even if he had been there, she'd rather break his neck than have him at her wedding. Loz had ended up winning that brawl, and had been proud and delighted to lead her down what little aisle there was-of course, in losing that, Kadaj had immediately jumped on the role of best man-and quite smugly too-without much protest from Yazoo.

For the first time ever in her life, Sophronica was wearing a dress-and she quickly told them that it might be the _last_ day as well, but she looked beautiful nonetheless. It was a simple dress; pure white, sleeveless and strapless, a mermaid dress, with a wide, deep emerald green silk sash around the waist, complementing her eyes, and the blue tones in her skin and hair. Completing the look, she wore long white fingerless gloves, and a delicate silver necklace. Her hair was half done up, long strands piled up elegantly while the rest cascaded down her back like a silver waterfall.

She was only hearing half of what the minister was saying, the words seeming far away as she gazed into Yazoo's vibrant green eyes. He looked more handsome than she ever remembered, dressed in a very elegant tuxedo. She returned to reality though when he reached the vows, the words that would officially bind them together even though they'd belonged to the other since nearly the first day they'd met. There was a pause, and she realized with a smile that this was her part.

"I do," she said affectionately.

Behind Yazoo, she saw Kadaj make a face, and shot him a glare. Quickly he flashed a bright smile, showing that he was only joking. If this hadn't been such an important moment, she would have smacked him upside the head, but she only smiled in return, shifting her full attention back to Yazoo.

"I do," he said, and her heart swelled at the words.

The minister announced them husband and wife, and then they kissed. It was short and sweet, and was met with cheers from Loz and Jayde.

* * *

"May I have this dance?" Jayde asked with a slight bow, holding out his hand to her.

Sophronica looked up from her reverie, having been left alone for a moment as Yazoo had been dragged away by Kadaj for something or other that he claimed was important. She smiled softly, not even having noticed that the song had changed.

"Of course," she said, placing her hand in his and standing.

She was slightly surprised to discover that he could actually dance, but he held her a short distance away, as if he feared invoking the wrath of her new husband or their brothers if he got too close to her. _Her husband_. The words still sounded strange to her, surreal. She still couldn't quite believed it-they were married now. Whenever she thought of married couples, she thought of normal, _boring_ couples-a husband with an average job, and a wife who stayed at home with the kids. That concept could never apply to them though, they would never be average or normal, but they were happy, and for all of that she was glad.

"I'm glad everything worked out for you," Jayde said, his brown eyes bright.

"Me too," she replied with a smile, "And thank you again for all your help."

He blushed, lowering his head a bit, "Aw, it was nothing, really."

"Everything you did is greatly appreciated," she added sincerely.

He looked up again, "Well…you're welcome," he said somewhat bashfully.

They were quiet for a moment, revolving in a zigzagging circle as they danced, and then he spoke up again.

"So, I guess I can't call you Lady anymore," he said.

She laughed a bit, "Well, you _could_, though you know my real name now."

"Sophronica's a much better name anyway," he added with a smile.

"It's alright," she said, shrugging a bit, though the comment was light.

He was silent for a moment, and when he spoke again, his tone was wary and curious, "Why does he keep looking at me like that?" he asked.

"Who?" she said, frowning slightly as they turned, but then she saw Kadaj glaring daggers at Jayde's back. "Oh, him. He's probably just jealous."

Jayde's brows furrowed in thought, "But you're a married woman now! And isn't he like your brother?"

She took a moment to try and figure out the best way to say this. She certainly couldn't explain the whole truth-he wouldn't understand, as it was somewhat complicated to those who knew nothing about them. Somewhat being an understatement. So she decided not to say that they'd all been related before this anyway, and just tell him something simple.

"He is now. He's just always been over protective of me," she said.

Jayde never got a chance to respond to that, as at that moment, Kadaj strode over to them.

"Mind if I cut in?" the youngest brother asked politely, though his eyes said that if Jayde refused, he would end up wounded.

"Not at all," Jayde relented quickly, as he didn't want to stir up any trouble, and backed away from Sophronica. "Congratulations again," he added with a smile before heading over towards Ali.

Kadaj stared after Jayde as he took Sophronica's hands, holding her closer than Jayde had. "Who _is_ that guy?" he asked.

"A friend," she replied, rolling her eyes playfully at his over-protectiveness, "He helped me when I first woke up here."

"Did he?" Kadaj inquired, looking to her with a raised eyebrow.

She nodded, "He gave me a place to stay and made sure I didn't starve."

"Oh. Well…I guess he's okay then," he relented. "Who's the girl with him?"

"Why, you got a crush?" she said, chuckling quietly as he blushed. "That's Ali. They're just friends," she added.

"I see," he said slowly.

"If you want to, you should just go over and talk to her," she suggested.

"I don't know…" he said, trying not to step on her dress as they danced.

"Go on, I insist," she said, noticing Yazoo coming towards them.

"Well…alright," Kadaj relented with a slight smile, "And I, uh…"

"I know," she said, "Just go."

She watched him make his way over to Ali until Yazoo had approached her, and she smiled. "Finally, I get to dance with my husband."

He smiled as well at her words as he pulled her close, "Did he bother you much?" he asked, meaning Kadaj.

"No, not really," she said, linking her arms around his neck.

"That's good," Yazoo said, "He shouldn't be bothering you today of all days."

"Mmm," she murmured, resting her cheek on his shoulder, "This day still feels so…"

"Unreal?" he finished for her.

"Yes," she said, lifting her head again to gaze at him, "It's so wonderful, it seems too good to be true."

He lifted a hand to her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb, "It _is_ true though."

"I guess it is," she said with a smile, leaning closer to kiss him, "We're _married_."

* * *

Sophronica smiled down at the sleeping baby girl who lay in her arms, wrapped snuggly in a warm, pink blanket. She brushed one finger gently down the infant's soft cheek, nearly overwhelmed with pride and joy. Yazoo was sitting on the bed next to her, and she managed to tear her gaze away from the beautiful child to look over to him. Though he was quiet about it, she could tell that he was just as overwhelmed as her-he was, after all, nearly glowing with pride, and one smile said it all.

"What's her name?" Kadaj asked in a hushed voice from where he sat in the chair near the bed.

Sophronica and Yazoo shared a look. Many months ago, shortly after the wedding, they had discussed a name-one name of course had occurred to them both at first, but they'd decided that they wouldn't give her that exact name, but something similar. The past was to stay behind after all.

"We decided on Fayth," she replied quietly, so that she wouldn't wake the baby.

"That's a pretty name," Loz said, and Sophronica smiled again.

"Can I hold her?" Kadaj asked softly.

She looked over to Yazoo, who appeared to be thinking this over for a moment, and then he nodded. She looked back to Kadaj, shifting over to the edge of the bed as he stood. Quietly, she told him how to hold the small child; to be sure her head was supported, and then carefully placed her in his arms. Fayth stirred slightly as she was moved from the care of one person to another, and she opened her eyes briefly. Her eyes were beautiful, even now at such a young age; they were vibrant green, with just a touch of blue, and the pupils were vertically slitted-just like her parents. She blinked up at Kadaj, and he smiled.

"Hey there," he whispered, cradling her carefully in his arms, "I'm your uncle."

Fayth only yawned though, blinking a few times before drifting back to sleep. He continued to smile though, thrilled at this tiny little life. He was an uncle now, and she'd look up to him as she grew. He'd look after her, and make sure nothing happened to her, that she grew up right, and never would have to deal with any of the strife they'd been through. Her childhood, her life, would be a happy, bright one.

* * *

She awoke in the middle of the night and rolled over to find that Yazoo wasn't there. She didn't panic though, didn't worry-she didn't have any reason to, after all-and sat up, sliding out of bed. Straightening the tank top and shorts she wore, she went quietly across the hall to Fayth's nursery, easing the door open the rest of the way, since it had been left ajar. Yazoo was here, holding their daughter in his arms while he sang softly to her, and Sophronica paused there in the doorway, leaning against the frame to listen without disturbing either of them.

"…_And I lost my faith, in my darkest days, but she makes me want to believe_," he murmured.

Sophronica smiled softly; she loved to hear him sing, loved the sound of his voice, and it had been so long since the last time.

"_They call her love…she's all I need_," he moved slowly over to the window, where the full moon beyond was casting its silvery light.

She looked down to her wedding ring, the band nestled beside the engagement ring with its beautiful green gem. So much had happened over this past year and a half; they'd gotten married, they had a daughter, and now she was growing up so fast-or maybe it just seemed fast to her. And through all of this…peace.

"_Well I had my ways, they were all in vain, but she waited patiently_," he turned from the window, and saw her upon looking up.

She smiled, and he returned the gesture, looking back down to Fayth as he sang her to sleep, ever the caring father.

"_It was all the same, all my pride and shame, and she put me on my feet_."

She tilted her head slightly, listening more to the words. They almost…no, they _did_ remind her of their lives, many years ago when they'd first met, and many other events.

"_They call her love…She is love, and she is all I need_…" he smiled down at Fayth, seeing that she was asleep again, and carefully laid her down in her crib.

Sophronica moved silently over to him, linking her arms around his waist as she gazed into the crib where Fayth slept. Yazoo slid an arm around her, and they looked to each other, not needing to say anything to convey what they were thinking. As quietly as they could, they both left the nursery, closing the door and returning to their bedroom.

"That was a beautiful song," she said quietly, lying down again.

He smiled, seeming almost shy about it, as he usually was about this subject, "You think so?"

She nodded as she snuggled against him, "Yes. Is there more to it?" she inquired curiously.

"There is," he said, stroking her back, "Why? Would you like to hear it?"

"Mhmm," she murmured, nuzzling her head against his chest, "I would."

He chuckled softly, kissing the top of her head, for once not protesting like he had on previous occasions.

"_Cause when that world slows down, dear_," he picked up where he'd left off in the nursery, and she let her eyes drift shut, listening to the sound of his voice.

"_And when those stars burn out, here…_"

She sighed contently, feeling herself growing tired, knowing she had no reason to dread the coming morning-rather, she had so many reasons to look forward to it.

"_Oh she'll be there, yes she'll be there. They call her love…she is love, and she is all I need_…"

His voice was lulling her to sleep, and she smiled to herself, knowing that she had everything she'd ever need or want; her family.

"I love you," she mumbled sleepily.

"As I love you, my wife," Yazoo responded, and she heard the smile in his voice.

She smiled herself, sinking further and further into tranquility, welcoming sleep as it crept over her, and once more, she thought of how bright their future was.

END


End file.
